Three Things In Life

I receive a lot of email. Too much email. A portion of it is junk mail (although my email program seems to do a good job of catching most of that). A lot of it gets deleted after reading the first sentence or two. Some of it never even gets read, but simply deleted once I see who sent it to me (sorry Mom!).

The messages that make me cringe are those that insist I forward the contents or I will be doomed to bad luck forever. Hmm... what if they are right?

There's also the guilty conscience messages. You know, "You don't love Jesus if you don't forward this to ten friends in five seconds!"

For some reason, I opened a note this week that I normally would have just canned. I thought that the message was somewhat profound. With just a couple of edits to improve the readability, I present here "Three Things in Life". I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

There are three things in life that, once gone, never come back.

- Time
- Words
- Opportunity

There are three things in life that are invaluable.

- Unconditional Love

- Self-Confidence

- Real Friends

There are three things in life that are never certain.

- Dreams

- Success

- Fortune

There are three things in life that define a person.

- Work Ethic

- Sincerity

- Commitment

There are three things in life that can destroy a person.

- Substance Abuse

- Selfish Pride

- Uncontrolled Anger

There are three things in life that, once lost, are difficult to recover.

- Respect

- Trust

- Friendship

Twitter

Have you seen Twitter yet?

Twitter is a blog site for those if us who are not talented enough to actually "write something" that is meaningful enough to make people want to sit there and read.

I think of Twitter as the CNN Headline News of blog sites. I love CNN Headline News. I can get all of the world news that I need in fifteen minutes with very little fluff.

Twitter users can post up to 140 characters per entry, and can submit their entries via the Twitter web site, SMS or IM. That allows users to make updates from just about anywhere. Pretty darn ingenious.

I have always felt like blog sites were the ideal place for people to author an extensive rant, and well... I just don't rant that much (I have not found it worth the time or effort). H0wever, with Twitter, I can quickly and easily publish just a brief thought or two to share with family and friends.

Twitter could be just what I was looking for to fill the gaps between posts to this site. Check it out for yourself at twitter.com, or to view my entries, browse to twitter.com/yagelski.

Purdue License Plates

I live in Virgina, also known as the land of vanity automobile tags.

Besides displaying their unique talent to spell cleaver words and sayings in "IM-speak", Virginia automobile owners can also easily show their affiliation with a club, group or organization as the Commonwealth's Department of Motor Vehicles offers just about any organization the opportunity to have a special purpose tag.

It seems that literally every major university or college in the country (and some minor ones too) are represented with a special purpose Virginia license plate. That is, every major university or college except my own alma mater, Purdue University.

If you are a Purdue alum living in the Commonwealth of Virginia, show your school pride! Express your interest in obtaining a Purdue special purpose license plate by submitting some basic information at the following address...
http://www.mjparker.com/license

NCAA Tournament Wrap-Up

Yes, I realize that the NCAA basketball tournaments are not officially over, but the ride has ended for my favorites; the Purdue men's and women's teams.

It was a very good season for both, with the teams achieving a level of success that I did not think possible just a few months ago. However, it's always tough when your hopes for even greater success are dashed.

The Purdue men's team was placed in the West Region, playing their first and second round games in Washington DC. Very close to home for this Purdue fan! I worked through the Purdue athletic ticket office to obtain two seats for the games. Unable to attend the Thursday games because of work obligations, we made them available to some good friends. Fortunately, Purdue beat Baylor, allowing us to make plans for viewing Saturday's game, live at the Verizon Center.

Early Saturday, my son and I trekked to downtown DC to attend the Purdue pep rally at the Penn Quarter Tavern. That finished-up in time for us to enjoy a light lunch and a leisurely stroll to the arena. After picking-up our tickets at the will-call window, we were thrilled to find our seats even with the top of the key and about twelve rows from the floor. Perfect!

After a great start to the day, it kind of went down hill from there. Our cheering for Duke in the first game went for naught as they fell to the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Then, after a clash with Xavier, the Purdue team suffered a tough defeat. My little buddy was a bit teary-eyed watching his beloved Boilermakers drop out of the Tournament, but he has great hopes for the team to come back stronger next year as this squad only loses one player to graduation.

Now we're ready to start getting reports from spring football practice! 

Back to Carriacou

I've started a new blog to document the planning process for our next family vacation; a trip back to the Grenadine island of Carriacou. If you are interested in making a trip to a Caribbean island, or just want to follow along and laugh at our experiences, follow the link shown in the profile to the right or use this URL in your browser...
http://backtocarriacou.blogspot.com/