Monthly Archives: August 2011

Hits, Philosophy

The Don’t Quit Poem

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 I have often found inspiration in these simple words.  Originally I was introduced to them by my grandfather, and whenever I feel like quitting or feeling sorry for myself,  I can read these words and somehow find the inspiration to keep on moving forward.   It seems sometimes that life is an overwhelming experience, with many pitfalls and unpleasant experiences, but there is so much good out there and so many really great things to experience.  Never let the world get you down.  Don’t you EVER quit!

Here is the original poem in it’s entirety:

 

 The Don’t Quit Poem

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

– Author unknown   

 

Here is an INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO to go along with The Don’t Quit Poem, I thought your might like. Peace be with you.

Hits

I Am A “Psych”-O

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Shawn and Gus Eating and Being Psychic
Shawn and Gus

It is with a little bit of embarrassment  that I admit that I love the television series, Psych.  Truly I just love to watch Psych!   It is a show designed, I think for people who are younger than me but I started watching it on Netflix and thanks to Psych episodes online, I quickly went through the first four seasons of the show and am an avid “Pshych-O”.

This show is totally unrealistic, and if you accept that going in you will be o.k.  Shawn Spencer is the main character and he is a psychic detective.  What is that you ask?  Well he is a detective who uses his “psychic abilities” to solve crimes.  He often is called into the Santa Barbara Police Department to help them solve crimes as well.   Spencer works with his childhood friend Burton Guster, who is a full time pharmaceuticals salesman and part-time Psychic associate.  These two characters have the funniest lines and most memorable banter between them.  I literally laughed my butt off watching this show.  Really I did.  I was connected to my butt one minute and then, BAM, my butt fell off.  From their constant references from foods to 80’s pop culture, there is something for everyone.  They also have featured many interesting guest stars over the first five seasons.  From wrestling’s John Cena to Cary Elwes, (the Princess Bride),  they never fail to deliver an interesting story, and make you laugh in the process.

The laughter is definitely the number one reason I like this show.   Even though I am quite sure that I feel my I.Q. drop every time I watch, I think that the boys and Juliet are worth it.  Pineapple anyone?

List of Psych episodes

Shawn: Come on, dude. I honestly didn’t know he was gonna be pulling a corpse outta the ground.

Gus: That’s alright, Shawn. I honestly didn’t know I was gonna be putting my foot in your ass. Life’s full of surprises.

Shawn: This is just another knock off of the other knock off of the original knock off of that other show.

Shawn [while they’re in front of the fence, after he said that usually the ‘electrified’ sign is fake]: Come on, touch it.

Gus: I’m not touching an electrified fence, Shawn!

Guard *smiling creepily*: How about I touch it?

Shawn: I don’t think I like the way that sounds.

 

“Or maybe you’re referring to my license to kill. Revoked. Trouble at the Kazakhstan border. I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you, which I can’t do because my license to kill has been revoked.”  

 

Hello I’m psychic detective Shawn Spencer and this is my partner………

Bighead Burton, Fingers, Homeskillet, Big Baby Burton, Blackstar, Magic Head, Peter Panic, Gus T.T. Showbiz, Ovaltine Jenkins, Chocolate Columbo, Schoonie “U-Turn” Singleton, Bud (from “The Cosby Show”), Nick Nack, Bruton Gaster, Lavender Gooms, Lemongrass Gogulope, Squirts MacIntosh, Galileo Humpkins, Gus “Silly-Pants” Jackson, Shmuel Cohen, Methuselah Honeysuckle, Shutterfly Simmons, Paddy Simcox, Chesterfield McMillan, Felicia Fancybottom, Tan, Longbranch Pennywhistle.
Hits, Philosophy

Always Be On Time

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be on time, effective time management
Be On Time

“Strict punctuality is perhaps the cheapest virtue which can give force to an otherwise utterly insignificant character.”~ John F. Boyes

 Be On Time

In my experience throughout life, the first rule of anything that you do is to always be on time.  I know it seems like common sense but I am constantly surprised by how many people fail to follow this simple practice.

“You may delay, but time will not.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

It doesn’t take any special talent or skill and really anyone can do it.  It portrays your interest and responsibility to other people about anything that you are trying to do.

“I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me.” ~ Lord Nelson.

The fact is if something is really important to you, you will make sure that you get wherever you need to be on time.  Personally, I am the kind of person that if you are not 15 minutes early, you are late.

“I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment, will never be respected or successful in life.” ~ Rev. W. Fisk

Effective Time Management

During my coaching career, I always made this rule number one in any introductory meeting.   It helped set the tone that what we were doing was an important activity and anything worth doing is worth doing right.  I hope that anyone who ever participated on any of those teams were able to take this life lesson and apply it to all aspects of their lives.

“Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person’s money as his time.”~ Horace Mann 

I hope you enjoyed this post and found the time management quotes inspirational.


 

 

 

 




 

Things I Don't Like

Tomatoes Suck

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Jon Hilton Doesn't Like Tomatoes
Tomatoes Suck!

As far back as I can remember I have really not liked tomatoes.  I just think it tastes bad and particularly the texture isn’t something I have ever liked.  No tomato in my sandwich I will have a BL with no T thank you very much.  But here is the problem.  I really like many tomato products, ketchup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, I can even eat tomatoes if they have been cooked.  But fresh tomatoes out of the garden, no thank you, you can keep them.

I think the fact,  that growing up, the only good thing that I can think of about tomatoes is that they made really good ammunition when it came to playing games outside which required the trowing of something at someone else.  We often played these games because…………we weren’t all that smart.  We used crab apples and sometimes even rocks, (like I said, not very bright), but tomatoes were the best object for these games.  I remember one particular time getting pelted with them and being covered in a slick reddish goo, and thinking “Wow, this sucks, and so do tomatoes.”  And I feel that way to this very day!

So there it is. If you are going to get me a sandwich, or order me a salad, please…………………………… be a friend-o and leave out the tomato!

 

Hits, Philosophy

Burning Desire to Win

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Jonathan Hilton burning Desire for Success

Burning Desire To Win!!!

A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which make it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield.  He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose warriors outnumbered his own.  He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them .  Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “you see the boats going up in smoke.   That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win!  We now have no choice we win or we perish!  They won.

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat.  Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a Burning Desire To Win, essential to success.

I don’t think it has to be quite this drastic, but the idea that you have to step out of your comfort zone and take a few risks to meet success head on, is clear.  Nobody climbed a mountain sitting on their duff at home.  Nobody every accomplished much by doing nothing.   You need a plan for what you want to accomplish, a goal to set out for and the desire to get it no matter what the cost and you are in business.  Dream big and achieve your goals, my friend.

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Favorite Stephen King Movies

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After a conversation I had today I wanted to put a list of some of my favorite movies based on Stephen King Novels out there to scare, inspire or entertain your kids who probably weren’t alive when they first came out! Fun Making the list!

Salem’s Lot

Author Ben Mears returns to ‘Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.  Vampires in Maine what could be scarier than that?

Stand by Me

This film is a fantastic coming of age story about a group of four strange mismatched friends from junior high who try to track down a missing boy, presumed dead, by following some train tracks. Meanwhile they learn about each other and themselves, and end up all changing forever because of that several day journey. This is a very touching film with some sadness, and shows that Stephen King is not “just a horror writer.” This movie is based on the King novella “The Body.”

 

The Green Mile  

Some may argue that this is the best movie, and they may have a point, but the fact that there are enough great movies based on Stephen King works that a film this good (rated on the top 250 movies ever on IMDB) could arguably not be in the top five just shows that there are some gems out there. Not only is Tom Hanks great in this film, but this touching movie (a not heavily hidden allegory of the Jesus story) follows the film and is a fantastic watch that generally follows the books very carefully.

 

It

This three hour and change movie is a two part movie, with Pennywise the Clown perhaps one of the most disturbing horror villains in movie history. I personally point to him (and watching this movie at the age of ten) as explaining my life long fear/hatred of clowns. This movie is often judged as the first half being excellent and the second half mediocre, in part because of a changed ending. In fairness, the book’s ending would be next to impossible to fully convert into a movie format, but all in all, this movie is still a great view, and the first half is excellent. You might want to skip this one if you have a phobia of clowns.

 

Shawshank Redemption

This movie is one of only three from the IMDB website that has a rating of over 9.0 (out of 10), and is rated as the second best movie of all time on that website, and for very good reason. This amazing movie is based on the equally amazing novella about a banker who is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and is sent to a sadistic prison where the guards and warden are both corrupt. The acting is incredible, the storyline is amazing, and everything about this movie works. Not only is this the best movie ever adapted from a Stephen King work, but many cinema fans agree that it was one of the better movies ever made.

 

Pet Cemetary-

This work was also one of Stephen King’s finest horror novels. There is a haunted pet cemetery, spelled cutely with an ‘S,’ where everything buried comes back from the dead, but comes back twisted and evil. This is a great film where the tragic loss of a child proves too much temptation, and what comes back is terrifying and evil beyond belief. The ending of this film is absolutely fantastic, and one of the best endings of a King movie.

 

Misery-

This was one of the best horror novels written by Stephen King, and the best movie based on a horror work. Annie Wilkes, the number one fan, is the worst nightmare of every celebrity, or every individual who has ever been stalked. An author gets in an accident, but is “rescued” by an obsessive fan, who ends up killing anyone who snoops around and creates the word “hobbling.” Anyone who saw the movie just winced at the mention of that word. Kathy Bates is exceptional as Annie Wilkes, and one of the most convincing movie psychopaths of all time.

 

Children of the Corn-

Children of the Corn was based on a short story by Stephen King (and all six of the terrible sequels were based on movie studios trying to stretch it for a cheap buck). “Outlander! Outlander! We have your woman!” This classic line and scene helps define the movie, where a child prophet has convinced every child to murder all the adults in town, as they worship “He who walks behind the rows.” Talk about the wrong town to break down in! This is a very solid horror flick, with some really genuinely creepy moments.