INSIDE OUTSIDE, OUTSIDE INSIDE!

Observation of the Day!

Some readers of Looking For Nirvana are of the older generation. They are both old friends and OLD friends. I think all of us are trying to figure what it all means.

We all think about our age. We remember our parents and run a parallel time line. They were always old to us even though they may have been younger than our kids. When we remember our parents from our younger vantage point at our age, if we were lucky enough to have had them with us, we see very old people. Yet we do not see ourselves, who maybe even older than they were at the time. However, I often look at a reflection and say.” My God I am my father”.

I have a friend who was sixty-seven, just six years older than me. I told him I don’t have friends who are sixties-seven. Sixty-seven year olds were my grandparents. As children we remember our grandparents were in their sixties. Now I have flown by sixty-seven and certainly don’t feel seventy. Do I look seventy? Of course I do. DAMNIT!

We are in a dichotomy of INSIDE AND OUTSIDE. Inside we do not feel our age.. We are still excited about things. We laugh. We cry. We computer, email and internet and yes, there are aches and pains and meds that give away that we are not all we think we are. Overall our mind is feeling much as it has our whole life, except it has a long memory bank. We may even have a cell phone, an Ipod and a Blog. We observe life. We love life. We love our friends, both old and young. We don’t like, but reluctantly must accept the outside of us.

When we look outside, we see the wrinkles and the liver spots and the scars and the scalp and the gray, man boobs, saggy boobs and the food that somehow always stains our shirts. If we put our shirts in hot water we could make soup. This is how others see us, and if they are strangers they dismiss us as irrelevant. Even Nielson doesn’t give a damn what we watch of TV. They don’t recognize that some of the resources for younger spending actually come from us.

The fact is we are both inside and outside, hence a dichotomy. We really know what it means to “have your health”. Even though my mechanical inside is a mess between heart attack, by-pass surgeries, prostate cancer and coming cataracts and who knows what else, I consider myself healthy because my mind is active and happy, even though the short term memory is suspect. I do feel genuinely good right now. I only feel unhealthy when I have the flu or bronchitis, but they eventually pass. I surround myself with as many young adults and children as I can. They keep me in touch with their present and their future. I truly love them. I like to help them whether it is them giving advice, listening to them and their music (rap is a No! No!) or a little gift they would not give themselves. Their hugs make me happy and that’s all I ever ask. I work for hugs.

I am truly blessed in life. Now where is that plastic surgeon when I need him?

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

SONG OF THE WEEK!

Diana Krall is one of my favorite singers in the mold of Peggy Lee. She is married to Elvis Costello of all people, and they had twins a little over a year ago. She is from Vancouver B.C. She is an outstanding pianist. Ms Krall is at the top of my must see list along with Alison Krause and Robert Plant Raising Sand tour.

She has many albums out, mostly of standards and jazz.

As a bonus go to menu at bottom of YouTube panel and click on the Tony Bennett/Diana Krall appearance on the David Letterman show.

I hope you enjoy.

Have a nice day!

Sammy C.

WHY THE REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO LOSE!

Am I a Dead Republican?

I am sorry to say Republicans don't get it. It is the old white boys club, and I don't mean that in a racist sense. They are out of touch with the country. They have isolated themselves from reality of twenty-first century .The country is changing demographics rapidly. By 2050 there will probably be forty percent of the country non-white.

It is the young people born in the eighties (millenniums) who get it and they aren't Republicans and perhaps not even Democrats. Racism is not an issue for them. They want a new dynamic for America. It reminds me somewhat when John Kennedy came into the presidential campaign of 1960. Agree or disagree with him the torch passed to a new generation and there was a new excitement in the country. The older generation prior to Kennedy presidency was the leadership of WWll and Korea. However, his assassination and the Viet Nam War created a chaos in the country as the old guard took charge again. Now the baby boom generation who created the chaos is now the older generation and in charge. The country wants change and a vision just as in 1960. The millenniums can help make it happen.

A Frank Rich column in the New York Times February 17, 2008 dicusses the weakness of the current Republican party leadership. Go to the New York Times website to read the full column.

Rich writes:

"Even by the low standards of his party, Mr. McCain has underperformed at reaching millennials in the thriving culture where they live. His campaign’s effort to create a MySpace-like Web site flopped. His most-viewed appearances on YouTube are not viral videos extolling him or replaying his best speeches but are instead sendups of his most reckless foreign-policy improvisations — his threat to stay in Iraq for 100 years and his (sung to the tune of the Beach Boys’ version of “Barbara Ann”) that he will bomb Iran. In the vast arena of the Internet he has been shrunk to Grumpy Old White Guy, the G.O.P. brand incarnate."

I have been a very right leaning Republican, but no more. I consider myself an independent that is leaning more and more to the left of center, except in fiscal matters. The Democrats don't understand fiscal responsibility and the GOP in its current state is no better. Waste! Waste! Waste. I believe at this time I will be voting for Obama, if he doesn't go too far left in the campaign.

The only hope for a Republican victory is if Hillary gets the nomination. The right wingers will come out in droves to defeat her. My decision between McCain and Obama will be a tough one. I think it may be too late for McCain.

I hate to be so serious lately, but I promise to back off political commentary for a while.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C, Arnold

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS, SUCCESS IN LIFE!

PART ll

Relationships with family and friends.

There is nothing more important in a life than family and friends. Sometimes people have a tendency to take them for granted. Barbara Bush said in a commencement address that when your last deal is done it is your family that will still there beside you.

Lee Corso, the former football coach at Indiana University and now a TV analyst, once related the story of his firing from Indiana. He was out of town on a speaking engagement when his wife called him and told him that she had heard on the radio that he had been fired. He said that even though the firing of coaches is a routine matter today, it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt. Don't ever underestimate the human animals ability to hurt. He said that when you are in that position, you quickly understand that the only people that really care, live at your house.

The same is true for friends. When you have a friend that you have had for life, you may have a tendency to take the friendship for granted. You have invested five or ten years in a relationship, through all of its ups and downs. All of a sudden you wake up and find you have known the person for twenty-five or more years. You have shared many of life's experiences together. A friend takes on new importance. The primary difference between family and friends is that you can choose your friends, but not your relatives.

People often wonder what a person that knows they are going to be in a plane crash thinks before the crash. The thought often reported was " How are my relationships?" They are not thinking about the appointment or business deal they are going to miss. Always try to keep your relationships in order as best as you can every day. Any day may be your last day.

Disappointments and set backs are part of life.

Every life and career has disappointments and set backs. It is part of every life. It is not the falling down, it is in the getting up and pushing ahead. There is only one failure in life and that is suicide. Suicide means you have given up completely. When you are in difficult times, work to continue to move forward. Keep in mind that this too will pass --- and it will.

When you are disappointed or experience a personal or career set back, it is not easy. You feel anger and disappointment. This is the normal human reaction. All loss must be mourned. Go ahead and feel anger for a while, and then get on with your life. The only thing hate and anger does is hurt you, not the person at which it is directed. You have value as an individual. Your life and your success can only be defined by you and only you.

Make a difference in whatever you do.

This applies to your business as well as your personal life. You can always tell the people who have made a difference because they are always remembered fondly in the telling and retelling of stories about them.

At a NACUFS meeting (National Association of College and University Foodservice) I attended, a group of foodservice directors from the South were sharing lunch and stories. They had worked together at one time. The subject turned to southern cooking. After the obligatory discussion of the merits of grits to the diet, talk turned to Fred. One director said, " You remember old Fred don't you? That Fred, now that man could cook some southern fried chicken. You know Fred died last year. Yep, had a stroke and died. I gave a eulogy at his funeral. Yep, that Fred he could cook some chicken."

Isn't that a wonderful tribute to this simple college cook who loved and had pride in what he was doing. There could be no better tribute to the man in his death than to be remembered for doing his life's work well. Did anyone ever tell him what a great job he was doing when he was alive? Fred made a difference in people's life because he cooked great chicken and was remembered fondly at a national meeting of the professional foodservice managers in Cincinnati, Ohio, long after his passing.

There may be one more factor in a living a meaningful life, and that is belief that there is a greater being and things happen for a reason.

To quote Rabbi Kushner, "When you have learned how to live, life itself is the reward."

Have a nice day!

Sam

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS, SUCCESS IN LIFE!

A Meaningful Life

There are two sides of success --- success in your career and success in life. Without the second half you are not complete. Success is a journey not a destination. It is not the distance of the journey that matters, it is overcoming the obstacles that are presented during the journey. There will always be more to accomplish. You will never be finished with your earthly journey until the Lord says you are.

Every life has stages that must be traversed. In their twenties a people are searching, in their thirties, hopefully, they have found their life's work, in their forties a person grows, and then comes the fifty mark and a person starts to evaluate life and what it all means. In the later years we, hopefully, have learned the answers, but nobody asks the questions. They are to busy chasing success.

There is a book by Rabbi Harold Kushner entitled, When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough. In it he discusses that there are three things that will help an individual have a meaningful and successful life.

* Relationships with family and friends.

* Disappointments and set backs are part of life.

* Make a difference in what ever you do.

Tomorrow we will explore these points further.

To Be Continued

LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT!

A JADED POLITICAL OPINION!

I always laugh when I think back to Bill Clinton’s statement about the cabinet he would form. “It will look a lot like America,” he stated. Of course his definition of how America looked was that we were all millionaires who went to an eastern liberal elitist institutions. It represents the arrogance of “The best and the brightest.” “We will decide what is best for the masses who are not as smart or as well educated as we.”

Is that attitude any different from the extreme “Religious Right” who would like to legislate other people’s morals? I don’t think so. While I personally do not support abortion, I do not think it is a political issue. It is a moral issue that will be decided in heaven. The protesters yell that abortion kills babies, but the anti- abortion people kill doctors. How does that square with the Lord?

Extreme partisanship is killing America. The right and left all rail against the centrist, but at the center is compromise. A balanced view, giving and taking and getting to the best solution possible for the Americn people and the times. America needs come first, not extreme ideologies. The politics of "gotcha" is why nothing gets done, unfortunately it will probably continue, as we keep sending the same ego driven jerks to Congress. Public servants, my ass.

There is really little difference between the left and the right. It is a full circle.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

THIS JUST IN!

NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW OR NOT!

Ted Turner says he is about through buying up ranch land. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns.

Now he has room to bury his big head.

*****

The fatal shooting, the 21st murder in New Orleans this year, occurred closely on the heels of a trying Carnival season for police, one in which four people were murdered and 12 others injured in shootings in the past five days, according to police records.

At this rate maybe they will kill themselves off. I know that is an unkind indictment of New Orleans, but they are killing themselves. Suicide is the ultimate failure.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Spending hours on a cell phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary research suggests. In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' cell phone use and their sperm quality. On average, the more hours the men spent on their cell phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.

WARNING: Don't call phone sex lines on your cell phone. It may cause infertility.

*****

The President and Congress reach new lows in approval rating. One interviewee pretty much says it all.

"When I see them say they want to investigate Bill Belichick and Spygate, I say, 'Why do you want to investigate something like that when we have things we should address'" like the economy and health care, Mitch Dugger, 46, an independent from Mandeville, La., said.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., recently said the Senate Judiciary Committee may want to examine why the National Football League destroyed evidence in a scandal over cheating by Belichick, the New England Patriots' coach.

And you wonder why nothing happens on the real stuff. The threat to take away the monopoly exemption is trotted out everytime sports is in trouble. What we really need is the commissioner and union leader to be fired by the people who put them there. That won't hapen of course, the owners are too greedy and the players are too dumb.

From a SanDiego Union Tribune article and my comments on Clemens hearings.

"The ranking Republican acknowledged that they risked "criticism that they were grandstanding" Now where would someone get that idea? Maybe from delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who powdered her face, applied lipstick, then asked Clemens: Mr. McNamee injected your wife with HGH in your master bedroom without your knowledge?"

I loved Representative Virginia Foxx breaking out pictures of Clemens in pitching mode. She admired them and then ask Clemens about his physical training routine. "You keep yourself in pretty good shape don't you Mr. Clemens?"

As ESPN reported,there is no such word as "misremembered". A word used by Clemens speaking of the Andy Pettite statement.

Pitchers and catchers report today. Let's get this behind us.

*****

Oprah opened a store Chicago featuring her favorite things. You knew it was only a matter of time. How about feeling warm and fuzzy in an Oprah nightie (not sexy and flannel, I'll bet) and baby-soft socks to keep your callused feet warm, writing in your "Passion" journal while sipping hot tea from a mug emblazoned with one of Oprah's favorite quotes. "Live Your Own Dreams" is always a heart-warmer.

OH! PLEASE1 Oprah, have you no shame?

*****

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year and had brought discredit on the Senate.

WELL DUH!!!

*****

"Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282 is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would face if its grub was served to someone with an excessive body mass index,"

These guys are probably skinny. They are certainly stupid. Where do we find these people. Oh yes, they are from Mississippi and they are politicians. Can anyone say BUBBA!?

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl