Ramoney

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Happy New Year everybody!  Hope everybody had a safe and wonderful holiday.  Speaking to a very special lady earlier the topic of new year’s resolutions came up and we talked about what mine would be this year.  Each year I have old reliables such as:

• Don’t swear as much
• Exercise and meditate more
• Cut down on the sweets, red meat.
• Eat more vegetables.

You know, the usual stuff.  There are a few additions though this year.  Here are some of them:

• To find out and remember the eye color of every new person you meet: In other words, to look them in the eye.  Not only does it show sincerity, it makes for a great first impression :)
• Give to charity: There are givers and takers, for too long I’ve been the latter and it’s about time I joined the former.
• Read more: Ah yes, by this time next year when I tell people I’m well read it will mean more than checking the box scores and reading the funny pages :)
• Be more patient: With people, inanimate objects, myself - in general.  It is a virtue I’ve been told repeatedly, might as well be a virtue I have in abundance no?
• Write more: That means this blog.  I’ve been slacking off dear readers and for that I am sorry. I promise to post more often.  The posts may be silly and sometimes be downright non- sensical but they will be there :)
• To let the people I care about know how much they mean to me: A hug here, a kiss there, a kind word here, an affectionate touch there.  So to those that I love (and you know who you are).  I love you :)

Thanks for reading :)

Photo by spunkinator
 

Raise your hand if you love getting performance reviews from work…

I thought so :)

Like them or not, they do serve an important purpose - to provide feedback on how we are doing and to show areas of improvement.  But with performance reviews, you don’t get these very often.  Once a year?  Six months?  Three?  But when you have them it provides a good picture of “where you’re at”, no?

But these kinds of performance reviews only cover the professional side of you.  And depending on how you go about your day, there’s at least 8 hours that you don’t spend working.  So where’s the feedback for those times of your life? Continue Reading…

Summer has come and gone and it was good to go on vacation (from posting at least).  I feel refreshed and ready to post again.  Thanks to all of you who dropped me a quick note asking, “Where the hell are you?” ^_^

Regular posting will resume starting next week.

Hope you all had a great summer, and it is good to be back.

RJ :)

The other day I gave my mom a lift to Target because she needed to re-stock those fancy little bathroom soaps that are supposed to be for “decorative purposes” only but my father ends up using anyway (”I like the smell”, is what he’d say when caught soapy handed ^_^)

Noticing the job kiosk unoccupied I decided to fill out a computer application to pass the time, after filling out the first section that asked for name, contact info, education, etc.; I was bought to the second section that asked you a series of questions designed to take a snapshot of your personality.  Going through them I came across one in particular that has interested me:

“Are you satisfied with your life?”

It grabbed my attention because it was an unusual question to ask, especially in a job application.  But it certainly makes for interesting blog fodder I thought.

Continue Reading…

Photo by intimaj

 
There is a park a few minutes from my house with a little pond and a bench.  I first saw this place about 9 years ago and told myself that I would sit on that bench one of these days.  Driving back from work one day I finally decided to stop by and just sit, and I’m glad I did.  On that day the sun was out and the sky was so blue.  The newly cut grass had that fresh, comforting smell.  The breeze was just right and felt nice.  There were ducks on the pond that day and they were waddling around.  The ripples that they made in the water had a calming, almost hypnotic quality to them.  And as I sat there taking it all in I felt calm, relaxed, and happy.  It was a simple moment for sure, but the feeling of contentment was undeniable.  This was the feeling of happiness in the moment, the joy of now.

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Life can be frantic, chaotic, and loud.  From the moment the gun fires in the morning when the alarm clock goes off it is a race from start to finish.  To get through our day with whatever it is that we must slog through to make it so that we can make a living, stay out of trouble, and be a productive member of society.  We go home, eat our dinner, go to sleep.  The alarm goes off the next day and we start anew - a crazy, and at the same time, monotonous cycle.  We want to get away from it all and go on a long, relaxing vacation but more often than not it is just not possible.  My solution?  Take a mini-vacation for one day.  

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Last week my beloved Celtics have won their 17th championship after waiting 22 years for another shot at the title.  And the fact that they did it against the Lakers makes it especially sweet :).  Looking back on their season, there were many factors that attributed to the biggest turn around in NBA history from a  team that won 24 games in 2006-2007 season to 66 wins and the world championship the year after.  Most people will say that it was the acquisition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen along with several role players.  Some says it’s their commitment to defense.  I say it’s because of a mindset that they’ve adopted in the beginning of the season.  The mindset of ubuntu.

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Happy Father’s Day.

There are men who want to do everything that their fathers did. 

Others want to do the opposite.

Then there are others in the middle. 

Which one are you?

I have learned much from my father.  In things that I want to do by his example.  And things that I don’t because of his example as well.  I may not agree with everything that he has done and I’m sure he’d probably say the same thing. 

I don’t know if I’ll be as loving to my children when it is my time or if I push them as hard in academia. 

I don’t know if I’ll be as encouraging to my children to do their best or if I express disappointment when I know that my child has not given their all. 

I don’t know if I’ll tell my children to get a respectable job or if I encourage them to pursue what/who makes them happy.

All I know is I am the man I am today because my dad did his best.  And for this I am eternally grateful.

Thanks dad, and I love you.

So to my dad, and to the past, present and future fathers…

Happy Father’s Day :)

“The Secret” has been reviewed, dissected, admired, and mocked for over 2 years now since it was first published by author Rhonda Byrne in 2006 and turned into a TV special and subsequently a DVD.  Being fashionably late to the party, here is my take on it:

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Can’t get by without the paper?  Fine.  At least don’t look at the ads.  Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA(RIP).  These were the things that I looked forward to in the Sunday paper.  I was not interested in the weather.  The comics were nice, but those could always wait.  Never mind what was going on in my neck of the woods, much less the world, the ads had to be looked at first.  Sunday morning @ 9am sharp I would fetch the paper from the driveway, plop it up on the kitchen table, and proceed to dismantle the thing until I found those precious Sunday ads. 

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