You can now design your own Nike Shox NZ iD Shoe at NIKEiD.com. This was my creation. Fun!

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick one day. Needing to have an urgent problem with one of the main computers resolved, he dialed the employee’s home phone number and was greeted with a child’s whisper.

“Hello?”

“Is your daddy home?” he asked.

“Yes,” whispered the small voice.

“May I talk with him?”

The child whispered, “No.”

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked,

“Is your Mummy there?”

“Yes.”

“May I talk with her?”

Again the small voice whispered, “No.”

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked,

“Is anybody else there?”

“Yes,” whispered the child, “a policeman.”

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked,

“May I speak with the policeman?”

“No, he’s busy,” whispered the child.

“Busy doing what?”

“Talking to Daddy and Mummy and the fireman,” came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked,

“What is that noise?”

“A helicopter,” answered the whispering voice.

“What is going on there?” demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.  Again, whispering, the child answered,

“The search team just landed a helicopter”

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked,

“What are they searching for?”

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…

“Me.”

Here’s a thought:  Skip working out.

I figure that I spend 1 hour 30 minutes driving, exercising, and cleaning up 5 days a week.  $2.5 a day for gas, 15 miles on the car daily, club membership ($50).  Here’s how it plays out for the month.

30 hours
$100
300 miles on the car

…and for what?  1 less layer of fat on my body?  The ability to breathe a little easier when someone throws a football at the family picnic?  I don’t think so!  I’ve got things to do!  30 hours is 2/3s of a work week, for goodness sake.

Next week’s journal:  Skipping sleep!

(if it’s hard to read the sarcasm, there’s no way I would skipping working out.  I feel so much better now than before I started exercising.  Plus, I figure I’ll generate enough through staying alive longer (interest, SS, grand kids, etc) that it’s even financially beneficial to spend the money and time now for a bigger payout later.  I still hate the StairMaster, though…)

While being “in the groove” is mostly credited to “Performing very well” or “In a state of mind or mood conductive to playing music well”, and was used by jazz musicians as early as 1920, I believe the phrase actually comes from the stylus or needle of a record being “in the groove”.

While the common “record” that we know today was introduced as the Edison Blue Amberol Record in 1912, the first phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison on July 18th, 1877.  Previous to that, a device utilizing a vibrating pen to graphically represent sound on discs of paper, known as a phonautograph, was built by Edouard-Leon Scott of France in 1857.

The theory, in principal, is that the stylus or needle stays in the groove of the record to reproduce sound, what it was designed to do.  When bumped, the needle will often come out of the groove, causing disruption, chaos, and often the loss of a good time.  Thus, people look for the “groove” to get back to a normal, productive state of mind.

I enjoyed these quotes from the movie Karate Kid.  It’s amazing to me how some things mean much more as I get older.  Some of these are just funny, some have huge points about life.

Enjoy.

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Memorable quotes for
The Karate Kid (1984)

#10

Daniel: Hey – you ever get into fights when you were a kid?
Miyagi: Huh – plenty.
Daniel: Yeah, but it wasn’t like the problem I have, right?
Miyagi: Why? Fighting fighting. Same same.
Daniel: Yeah, but you knew karate.
Miyagi: Someone always know more.
Daniel: You mean there were times when you were scared to fight?
Miyagi: Always scare. Miyagi hate fighting.
Daniel: Yeah, but you like karate.
Miyagi: So?
Daniel: So, karate’s fighting. You train to fight.
Miyagi: That what you think?
Daniel: [pondering] No.
Miyagi: Then why train?
Daniel: [thinks] So I won’t have to fight.
Miyagi: [laughs] Miyagi have hope for you.

#9

Miyagi: Your friend, all karate student, eh?
Daniel: Friend? Oh, yeah, those guys.
Miyagi: Problem: attitude.
Daniel: No the problem is, I’m getting my [butt] kicked every other day, that’s the problem.
Miyagi: Hai, because boys have bad attitude. Karate for defense only.
Daniel: That’s not what these guys are taught.
Miyagi: Hai – can see. No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do.

#8

[Miyagi karate-chops the tops off three beer bottles]
Daniel: How did you do that? How did you do that?
Miyagi: Don’t know. First time.

#7

Miyagi: Now, ready?
Daniel: Yeah, I guess so.

Miyagi: [sighs] Daniel-san, must talk.

[they both kneel]

Miyagi: Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later
[makes squish gesture]
Miyagi: get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do “yes” or karate do “no.” You karate do “guess so,”
[makes squish gesture]
Miyagi: just like grape. Understand?
Daniel: Yeah, I understand.

Miyagi: Now, ready?
Daniel: Yeah, I’m ready.
Miyagi: We make sacred pact. I promise teach karate to you, you promise learn. I say, you do, no questions.

#6

Daniel: Why didn’t you tell me?
Miyagi: Tell what?
Daniel: That you knew karate.

Miyagi: You not ask.
Daniel: Well, where’d you learn it?
Miyagi: Father.

Daniel: But I thought he was a fisherman.
Miyagi: In Okinawa, all Miyagi know two things: fish and karate.

#5

Daniel: Hey, what kind of belt do you have?
Miyagi: Canvas. JC Penney, $3.98. You like?
Daniel: [laughs] No, I meant…
Miyagi: In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants.
[laughs; then, seriously]
Miyagi: Daniel-san…
[taps his head]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[taps his heart]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[points to his belt]
Miyagi: Karate never here. Understand?

#4

Daniel: [after seeing Miyagi practice the crane technique] Could you teach me?
Miyagi: First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.

#3

Daniel: Hey, where did these old cars come from?
Miyagi: Detroit.

#2

[Daniel is about to have his first match in the tournament]
Daniel: All right, so what are the rules here?
Miyagi: Don’t know. First time you, first time me.
Daniel: Well, I figured you knew about this stuff. I figured you went to these before. Oh great, I’m dead. I am dead. You told me you fought a lot.
Miyagi: For life, not for points.

#1

Daniel: Where am I, this ring over here?
Miyagi: Hai. Number three.
Daniel: What’s that guy kneeling like that for?
Miyagi: Don’t know.
Daniel: Don’t you know anything you can tell me?
Miyagi: Hai. No get hit.