Stopping to Think

Photo: Aztech New Media

Some people live and act according to their own thoughts and some according to the thoughts of others; this is a crucial distinction between people. (Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom, 6 August)

Sometimes we take a course of action without stopping to think about the consequences. We don't look ahead to the sense of defeat, failure, and shame that will plague us. We forget that our escape route may lead only to greater trouble. (Kay Arthur, Search My Heart, O God, 5 August)

When your life and affairs are not in order, nature has no place to put the blessing. (Iyanla Vanzant, Faith in the Valley, p. 233)

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Yesterday afternoon I was channel surfing when I discovered a program called, "The Writing Life," produced by the community college in Howard County, Maryland. The guest was Frank McCourt, the author of, "Angela's Ashes," the book I'm reading right now. The program was shown on the cable channel of our county community college. This was the second interview with Frank McCourt that I have watched. I enjoyed both.

In the evening I watched part of an outstanding program titled, "Drain the Ocean," on the National Geographic Channel. Using computer animation they showed what the ocean floor looks like.

In the 11 Aug 2009 Style section of The Washington Post there was an interesting article about the website BookCrossing.com. The purpose of the website is to track used books that people leave for others to find. I think I like the idea. I visited the website and read several of the pages. I posted information about the site to both Facebook and Delicious.

In the evening I spent more time trying to master how the Google Sites works. I put my profile photo on the homepage. I added a "text" file. I changed some of the display colors. And, I tried to understand why the words "Attachments" and "Comments" appear at the bottom of some pages. I need to do more work on that question. At this point I don't have any plan for what I am doing. I'm just creating pages just to learn how things work. Later I will need to delete pages when I'm ready to add "real" content, if I decide to use the facility. If I can master how it works, Google Sites has potential as a place where I can post some of my genealogy information.

As I try to learn I'm constantly dealing with memory issues. Often I can figure out how something works and believe I have a good understanding. Then if I don't practice what I learned I soon forget and need to start the process all over again. I recall having this problem when I was younger. It's just more evident as time goes by.

Mr. Dickie