Words to live by ....

As of late, I have been a bit consumed with the reality, that there is a lack of regard for decency and respect. Today's society in large part is made up of people who for a variety of reasons are very selfish at the core, they have seemingly lost the ability to be selfless. That being the case, I have been troubled, and I have pndered and analyzed .... but I had a moment this evening to stop and brows through a few old quotes that reminded me of the ideas that I hold dear, the very notions that I wish would spread like wildfire in these days. I will share a few, these below are from Charles Swindoll ... beginning with my favorite of all ....

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.”

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”

“A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.”

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

I know it can be a bit "cheap" to use the words of others to make your point, but i have to say that I was glad to be able to read through those words today ... it helps me re-set my mechanism, so it is my honor to share them with you, do with them what you will...

What defines us???

Last night was one of those marathon talking sessions that I frequently subject Jilly to. First of all let me say, that I appreciate the fact that she is able to tolerate my constant speaking, when I get in these modes. Secondly, for the benefit of any that read this that don't know me that well, it is worth pointing out, that I know that I talk WAY to much, and my opinion generally doesn't waiver. It is as though I get "wound up" and the flood gates open, and out comes Josh's thoughts. That in itself seems fairly normal, but the thing is, that I have a hard time just "throwing something out there" for someone to think about. I tend to have this way of talking a point to death. This gets amplified, of course, when someone throws out a differing point of view, or offers a "reason" that something is the way it is. I just cant help but offer my opinion ...

Here is the curve ball. I am aware of the things in the paragraph above, but I still struggle with moderating my thoughts. I spend ALOT of time thinking, maybe too much (but is that seriously possible, or merely something someone once said who was too apathetic to give the effort {different blog}) and out of that thinking (especially the last few years) I have taken the time to learn ALOT about myself. I have also began to take the time to observe, and listen and learn alot about others around me. I am after all an "attention to detail" kind of guy. I take great pride in this. One obviously has to be careful to balance, and not be judgmental, or overly critical; but all to often, I think the majority of people error in the other direction, they basically gloss over the detail ... sometimes simply ignore it all together. I did for many years of my life. I have always had a decent "radar" when it came to people. I have generally speaking been given a gift, when it came to knowing what to generally expect, from people of differing personality types. I chose to basically ignore that for most of my young adult life.

I made Jilly suffer through "Maverick" recently, which as corny as it may be is one of my favorite movies. Maverick goes through the movie trying to explain to his fellow card sharks, that "everyone has tells" ... tells that show what they are thinking. A lot of people may think he is simply referring to if they have good cards or not ... but it is much deeper than that, if you truly look, the tell shows much more than that. It gives you a glimpse of what that person is actually thinking. What emotion are they overcome with at that moment ... are they "excited", "happy", "anxious", "frustrated", "distraught" ... once you identify the emotion, and you pair it with the event, you get a decent idea what is going on in that persons brain ... that is their actual tell ..... that is the moment when you get a quick glimpse of which way that person is leaning.

All that being said, I guess my point is, that I like being an attention to detail guy. I also firmly believe, that life would be a bit less complicated, if more people took the time to stop and pay attention. So as much as I annoy myself, (and I am sure others) with my analysis, I cant see stopping. I don't think I have it in me, to stop paying attention to the details.

Lets talk technician

I have had blog thoughts floating around in my head for the last few days. I have chosen to go with a getting to know me theme. Part 1 of this theme will address an area of my life that I rarely take the time to stop and analyze. I would like to dissect my worker side a bit today. Those of you that know me, probably are aware of the fact that I like to joke about how "little" I do. I am usually good for a, "how dare they call me to go fix something", if I am on the phone, or sending a message to a friend when duty calls. Today I will clear the air (because my sarcasm and jokes are at times masked quite well). Even though I joke, I actually work very hard and care a great deal about the work that I do. It is an extension of who I am and what I believe in, I do not know how to fully seperate who I am from what I do, and don't think I would want to if I could.

So let me tell you a little about what I actually do. I am an Electronics Technician at a hardwood lumber manufacturer. Sounds fascinating doesn't it (there's that famous sarcasm) .... actually it is quite interesting and challenging. This job has taken me to other countries for training purposes. This job has shown me that there really is nothing that I cannot accomplish. I continually find myself performing a very wide variety of tasks. There are times that I am inside a machine with 4' pipe wrenches and hammers. Other times, I am standing there with a laptop in hand adjusting the timing on a million plus dollar piece of equipment. I do office computer troubleshooting and repair, I do networking, I test and give recommendations on new software, I help identify improvements that need to be written into new programs so they are functional here. On the machinery side of things I wire up and test new equipment, I repair existing equipment (mechanically and electrically), I identify and modify equipment to make it run more efficiently, I make changes to ensure the equipment runs smoothly and lasts as long as it can without repair. I basically do anything and everything that is asked of me to help this company keep moving forward, if that involved me sweeping a floor, I'd do it.

So know that I have drug you through that lengthy description (I could spend days going into detail) of what I basically do, let me get to the point. I love my job. There I said it. I actually genuinely enjoy what I do and more so that I am good at what I do. I get frustrated, as I believe everyone does, there are people that don't pull there weight, there are people doing foolish things that cause me hours of work to "clean up". When you get right down to it though, I know at the end of the day, that I give my best, and I walk away with pride in that. I am also lucky enough to be respected by my co-workers, I know that if they need something that I will generally be the first one they call, and that is a great feeling.

What do you know .... duty calls ... more later