Monday, April 21, 2008

Spring is in the air...FINALLY

Ok, this Winter officially goes down as the longest Winter in History. The weather has finally begun to change! Now, I have always been a fan of change, and I have built my business on managing client's change. I am enjoying the change in weather, but another change has me a little disturbed.

To explain, I first need to let you know that this weekend, I had an old fashioned Poker Party at my house. All the old players were there from years ago when we played on a regular basis...Lyle, Swan, Lou, Doug, Jeff, and Skol. Now there is a reason we invite Skol. He is notorious for losing at poker and donating chips to every pot. He is ridiculously bad at bluffing and we love him for it. HOWEVER, this weekend, a first happened...SKOL won and won BIG! I have had to deal with alot, from surgery to Cancer treatment, but this is just TOO MUCH!!! :)

In all seriousness it was a great night. Kim set up the food and I even got to have my token drink (Dem Docs say I can have an Occasional Drink...that was it. :) )

I was able to spend time with friends, and do a lot of laughing. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday Night, except for the whole Skol winning crap. So if you see Skol, invite him out to Lunch...HE's BUYING!!!!!

Life has returned to as close to normal as I can imagine, the only exception being driving. I go back to the doc next week to fight that fight. :) I go back on April 30th for a checkup and restarting the Chemo. No MRI this month, only doing those every 8 weeks.

I apologize for not posting more often, but with things going so well, all I have to say is..LIFE IS GOOD, LIFE IS GREAT, and I am enjoying every minute I have! So, I will post when I have something interesting to say, or anything changes in my health. If you don't hear from me, then you can bet that I am working like a crazy man, DRIVING my mower, spending time with Kim, or just living life for every moment that I have!

Kim ran across a story that I think is a perfect life lesson. I hope you enjoy, I did!

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... "Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't." Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Miss Ava says.... "Give my Daddy Lyle Back his chips!" Oh yeah and PEACE OUT!

9 comments:

markopat said...

Skol won?????

That's kinda like...the Cubs winning....

ouch.

Marky P

Anonymous said...

Jr Ops Won???? What is this world coming too?

Dawn

Anonymous said...

Not only did I win big, but the Cubbies are on fire!!! Marky mark watch out this is the cubbies year! and since I've conquered all on the poker table, now Talbott needs to watch out on the golf course. Will lightning strike twice?...CHA-CHING

-SKOL

~Val said...

Poker pokes and jabs aside...it's great to hear that no news is good news!!

(except, of couse, on the Cubbie's front....Mark's slowly steamin' down in AZ....from more than the heat, I imagine...)

:-D

~Val in sunny Rockford!

markopat said...

As always...the Cub fans get "excited" because this is their "year." Only to have their world collapse around them like a giant heap of dung in a field of cows...

There is a LOT of baseball to be played Flub fans...don't get your hopes up too high...the yearly pain is coming.

Sorry...I know...the truth hurts.

GO GO SOX!

Marky P

PS...there is a real baseball team on the southside that wears a ring that is not over 100 years old...

JacquelineMarie said...

Skully!!!! Way to go, there is always a first time...LOL IT is like waiting to be senior AE--congrats!!!!! By the way, I could use some money or a ticket for Jimmy Buffett on July 19 at Alpine Valley!!!!

Anonymous said...

I've witnessed a lot of things in my life, but the 'Skol Episode' of Saturday last was quite possibly the most concrete piece of evidence to date that the Apocolypse is Near!
The 'Memorial Day Ceremonies' shall right the ship!


Keep the Awesome news coming, Steve! I have never doubted your ability to achieve any goal (attainable or not) that you have set your mind to!
There is no obstacle that you can't negotiate!

As that Southside Empathiser in AZ says :
You are my hero, bro!

PS - Mark, Really - The White Sox? I thought you has a higher IQ than that!
GO CUBS GO!!!

Peace, Love & Yogurt!!!

markopat said...

You are entirely correct about my higher IQ Swan...thusly...SOX Fan.

I cannot or would not put myself through the pain, misery and utter self degradation of being a cubs fan. If I were to decide to treat myself that way, I would become an Expos fan or a Dolphins fan or a fan where my team actually had an outside chance of not breaking my heart.

I have grown to dislike the cubs even more over the years because of the pure ignorance of most of the yuppie jag offs that sit in “the urinal” and cheer “their” team on whilst consuming 6-7 $8 Bud lights before throwing up in the bathroom at Cubbie Bears. Ask 90% of the cub fans and they cannot name the starting line-up for “their” team. Call it what you want…fair weather, band wagon…it is just a sad state of affairs on the north side.

Unfortunately cub fans…your should prepare for the crash…not right now…they haven’t quite gotten all the jackasses on Chicago Sports Radio saying that this is “their year.” But wait until October…heartbreak is coming…again…and again…and again…and again. It is like death and taxes.

GO GO SOX!
(World Champions within this decade and century!)

Anonymous said...

Hi Steven,

Thanks for posting this great story! My name is Chris, and I work with David J. Pollay, the author of The Law of the Garbage Truck™ - Beware of Garbage Trucks™! I just wanted to stop by and let you know that you can read the original story on David’s blog davidjpollay.typepad.com I know he’d love to have you stop by!

Also check out the video of people in New York City taking the No Garbage Trucks!™ Pledge: bewareofgarbagetrucks.com. It’s pretty cool.

Thanks again!

Chris

chris@bewareofgarbagetrucks.com