The Daily Smile :)

They were alone in the house...

2008-08-25T08:21:00.001-07:00

They were alone in the house. It was a cold, dark, stormy night. The storm had come up quickly and each time the thunder boomed, he watched her jump.
She looked across the room and admired his strong appearance. She wished that he would take her in his arms, comfort her, protect her from the storm. She wanted that..
Then the power went out.
She screamed.
He raced to the sofa where she was cowering. He did not hesitate to pull her into his arms. He knew this was a forbidden union and expected her to pull back. He was surprised when she didn't resist, but instead clung to him.
The storm raged on, as did their growing passion, and there came a moment when each knew that they had to be together. They knew it was wrong. Their families would not understand.
But they were so consumed in their passion they didn't hear the door or the click of the light switch.
The power was back on....... click

What happens when you have...

2008-08-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

1) nothing to do

2) a sharp knife

3) a large lime

4) a patient cat

5) too much tequila

6) and it's football season?

ANSWER:

PICTURES THAT PLAY WITH YOUR MIND

2008-08-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

EVER SEE AN ICEBERG FROM TOP TO BOTTOM?

2008-08-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

This is awesome! This came from a Rig Manager for Global Marine Drilling in St. Johns, Newfoundland. They actually have to divert the path of these things away from the rig by towing them with ships! In this particular case the water was calm, &the sun was almost directly overhead so that the diver was able to get into the water and click this pic. Clear water huh? They estimated the weight at 300,000,000 tons. And now we know why they say one picture is worth 1000 words...

And now we also know why the Titanic sank!

Creative Sneezing

2008-08-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-three students
filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon
gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost
as grown up as they felt.
Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and moms freely
brushed away tears. This class would not pray during the
commencements ----- not by choice but because of a recent
court ruling prohibiting it. The principal and several
students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed
by the ruling.
They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one
mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on
the graduates or their families.
The speeches were nice, but they were routine.......until
the final speech received a standing ovation.
A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He
stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it
happened. All 92 students, every single one of them,
suddenly SNEEZED!!!!
The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said,
"GOD BLESS YOU, each and every one of you!" And he walked
off stage...
The audience exploded into applause. The graduating class
had found a unique way to invoke God's blessing on their
future with or without the court's approval!
Isn't this a wonderful story?
Pass it on.........and GOD BLESS YOU!!!!

Subject: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

2008-08-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:

"The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was,as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed iton the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically,and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance,you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country :

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,with liberty and justice for all."

Subject: A Great Coach....

2008-08-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday the best man I know will do what he always does on the 21st
of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to his best girl.He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't wait to see
her again.

Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into
his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her

pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the
ribbon again. The stack will be 180 letters high then, because Tuesday
is 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years,
died.

In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on his
pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between, with just the old
bedspread they shared to keep him warm.

There's never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or
a finer coach. He won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, the
last in 1975. Nobody has ever come within six of him.

He won 88 straight games between January 30, 1971, and January 17,
1974.
Nobody has come within 42 since.

So, sometimes, when the Basketball Madness gets to be too much -- too
many players trying to make Sports Center, too few players trying to
make assists, too few coaches willing to be mentors, too many freshmen
with out-of-wedlock kids, too few freshmen who will stay in school long

enough to become men -- I like to go see Coach Wooden.

I visit him in his little condo in Encino, 20 minutes northwest of Los
Angeles, and hear him say things like "Gracious sakes alive!" and tell
stories about teaching "Lewis" the hook shot. Lewis Alcindor, that
is...who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

There has never been another coach like Wooden, quiet as an April snow
and square as a game of checkers; loyal to one woman, one school, one
way; walking around campus in his sensible shoes and Jimmy Stewart
morals.

He'd spend a half hour the first day of practice teaching his men how
to put on a sock. "Wrinkles can lead to blisters," he'd warn. These
huge players would sneak looks at one another and roll their eyes.
Eventually, they'd do it right. "Good," he'd say. "And now for the
other foot."

Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knows the whereabouts of
172. Of course, it's not hard when most of them call, checking on his
health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that

they can write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who will roll
their eyes.

"Discipline yourself, and others won't need to," Coach would say.
"Never lie, never cheat, never steal," and "Earn the right to be proud
and confident."

If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without
acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity, and you're done for
the day. Treat your opponent with respect.

He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but

win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs.
"There's no need," he'd say.

No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. "What about the
fellows who wore that number before? Didn't they contribute to the
team?" he'd say.

No long hair, no facial hair. "They take too long to dry, and you could

catch cold leaving the gym," he'd say. That one drove his players
bonkers.

One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard.
"It's my right," he insisted. Wooden asked if he believed that
strongly.
Walton said he did.

"That's good, Bill," Coach said. "I admire people who have strong
beliefs and stick by them, I really do. We're going to miss you."
Walton shaved it right then and there. Now Walton calls once a week to
tell Coach he loves him.

It's always too soon when you have to leave the condo and go back out
into the real world, where the rules are so much grayer and the teams
so much worse.

As Wooden shows you to the door, you take one last look around. The
framed report cards of his great-grandkids, the boxes of jelly beans
peeking out from under the favorite wooden chair, the dozens of
pictures of Nellie.

He's almost 90 now. You think a little more hunched over than last
time.
Steps a little smaller. You hope it's not the last time you see him. He

smiles. "I'm not afraid to die," he says. "Death is my only chance to
be with her again."

Problem is, we still need him here.

Why We Are Teachers

2008-08-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with modern
education. He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone
who decided his or her best option in life was to become a teacher?"
He reminded the other dinner guests that it's 'true' what they say
about teachers: "Those who can: do. Those who can't do: teach."
To corroborate, he said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Mary,"
he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"
Mary, who had a reputation of honesty, frankness, and wit replied,
"You want to know what I make?...Well, I'll tell you:"
"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can
make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor and an A-
feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very
best."
"I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute
silence.
"I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home.
You want to know what I make?"
"I make kids wonder."
"I make them question."
"I make them criticize."
"I make them apologize and mean it."
"I make them write."
"I make them read, read, read."
"I make them spell 'definitely &beautiful &receive' over and over
again, until they will never misspell those words again."
"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final
drafts in English."
"I elevate them to experience music and art and the joy in performance,
so their lives are rich, full of kindness and culture, and they takepride
in themselves and their accomplishments."
"I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your
heart...and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay
them no attention."
"You want to know what I make?"
"I make a difference!"
"What do you make?"