Year: 2006

Mozart’s birthday is tomorrow, the 27th of January, same day as my sister May’s birthday.

The Disney Concert Hall celebrated his birthday with a fabulous show for school children. I had the privilege of going with Amy’s school. Her fantastic strings and band teacher, Laura Tovar, arranged for her music students to attend the program at the Concert Hall. The LA Philharmonic played a selection of Mozart favorites along with a skit featuring “Wolfie” and his wife there telling us how music is put together and demonstrated ways that music can be interpreted.

Read more of “Mozart’s 250th birthday”→

I learned from my friend today to say those words.

I was very mad at her because she didn’t pick me up for our usual carpool while I sat in the parking lot waiting for her. She neglected to tell me to drive separately. In her apology to me, she said, “I am sorry, will you forgive me?”

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“If you do not stand for anything, you will fall for everything.”

Read more of “More about standing”→

Our convictions are tested everyday.

If we say we believe in honesty, when the store clerk gives us too much change, do we give it back? If we say we stand for truth, do we succumb to lying if it benefits us? If Sunday is our day of worship, do we make excuses and sleep…

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Perhaps you have heard it said, that God may answer our prayers in three ways: Yes, No, or Not Now.

I heard today that there is a fourth possibility: God can answer more than we asked.

My prayers are according to what I think would be the best outcome. But is what I imagine to…

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“I always valued my life, but I did not value my health until I got sick and ended up with a 8-month hospital stay in intensive care.”

That conversation with a co-worker brings us back to a basic principle.

We take for granted what comes easily to us. Air, water, family, health. When we don’t…

Read more of “Don’t take it for granted”→

On the practical side, the average income of a college graduate is higher than one who did not finish college.
I am sure there are studies done on this, but I will not bother to look them up. The earning differential between college and high school graduates probably varies over time, but no matter how you figure it, I am pretty certain that unless you are Bill Gates, you will earn more with a college degree than if you didn’t have one.

Read more of “College, continued”→

When we were talking about Elliot going back to college for his 2nd semester, Amy made a comment:

“Of course you have to go to college, so you can get a good job.”

Both Mike and I instantly interjected. No! The purpose of going to college is not to get a good job. That may be a benefit, yes, but it is not the sole purpose.

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We took down our Christmas decorations, stripped the Christmas tree of ornaments, and housed everything back into the appropriate boxes. Back into the rafters they go until next year.

It feels even more final when Elliot packed up all his things and went back to school. My reservations about having him at home were gone…

Read more of “Holidays officially over”→

We called 2 different Best Buy stores to ask for availability of Nintendogs for Amy’s Nintendo DS (She has a Christmas gift card).

I was on hold for 20 minutes with the store in West Covina before someone answered the phone. They didn’t have it.

The store in City of Industry did not answer at…

Read more of “On hold”→