Gentle Thoughts

Yesterday we treated ourselves to a trip to the Atlanta Botanical
Gardens. Great place, but bad timing. It was 95 degrees and a red flag
day for air quality. I wanted to share this one photo here with y'all,
especially Betty. I didn't have a copy of WOOFFER to sell him, so he had to make do with a signed copy of KEECHIE... LOL



I posted some of the better flower shots on my MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/brew99
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Check `em out!

Great photo, Brew. Hope you all survived the heat and the air!

Thanks, Zada I really liked that frog sculpture. I put a few of the
photos on MySpace, but then remembered that I have a MULTIPLY page that
is very user friendly for posting photos and blogging. I put most of
the photos there today as an experiment in timing. 22 photos, all
unchanged right out of the camera took only 4 minutes! They are
automatically re-sized for web applications.

Take a look at: http://brew99.multiply.com/

My wife and I migrated there from Yahoo 360 which is having too many
problems to deal with. You can get to her page from mine under my
contacts list to see even more (and better) photos. Not to mention that
she is a great blogger! I am jealous...

After you see the layout at Multiply, you may want to consider joining up!

Brew I went to the site, but I guess one must join in order to view the photos. I still have to set up linked in, so just don't have time to do another 'join' right now.

It should have worked, Zada. Did my page "Brew's World" come up? I
signed out and came back as a guest and I was still able to view my
photos.

Wierd things, these computers... this morning my PC was locked up, so I
had to do a hard reboot. Then it said that neither my mouse or keyboard
could be found. I was looking right at them! LOL

After several tries, I unplugged the mains and re-connected. Everything came back up.

Dear Brew,
What I would give to have that frog sitting on one of my benches in the garden! It looks like he is made of metal. Awesome, he is! I will look for a replica on line. When I find him, I will name him Phil to honor you.

Love,
Betty

Dear Brew,
Here is the artist website. It even mentions Atlanta Botanical. How cool these frogs are. I am still looking to see what one costs.
http://charlesfrogsmith.com/

Love,
Betty

I thought you would like Froggy, Betty. That website says that the
Botanical Gardens has 7 of them, but I only saw the two. Here's the
other one...



This was taken before I sold him the book. LOL

Gentle tips from my mother ... that she got from someone else ... who passed it along ... anyway ....


Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !!
The three little words are:
'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed
its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.


(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer !!!


(3) Junk Mail Help: When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right?
It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and
when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just
to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a
lot
of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to
OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots
of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying
that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's
why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the
idea!


(Yes, I do not about the "don't call" and "don't mail" registration. And it does help. But I think one can get more satisfaction from the above suggestions.)

Dear JoElle,
You make me smile. Devious minds are a wonderful thing.
Love,
Betty

Joelle, you are a little devil, but a nice one.

Wonderful ideas.

I just hang up on a machine, and cut off a telemarketer with something like "Nope. No thanks." then hang up.

FOR SOME HAPPY THOUGHTS VISIT THIS WEBSITE:


http://frankied3.multiply.com/photos/album/2/Funny_Signs#1



Click on the images to enlarge them.

Those are good ones, JoElle.

How about this for Demographics:

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4.USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. TheLos Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country -- if they could find the time -- and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. TheBoston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.

7. TheNew York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. TheNew York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. TheMiami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

10. TheSan Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority, feminists, atheists, or dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

11. TheNational Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. TheSeattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

And there are always these witticisms:

1. The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
2. Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make him wag his tail.
3. If you don't have a sense of humor, you probably don't have any sense at all.
4. Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.
5. A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water.
6. How come it takes so little time for a child who is afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to stay out all night?
7. Business conventions are important because they demonstrate how many people a company can operate without.
8. Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than everyone else looks?
9. Scratch a cat and you will have a permanent job.
10. No one has more driving ambition than the boy who wants to buy a car.
11. There are no new sins; the old ones just get more publicity.
12. There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 AM. - Like this: It could be a right number.
13. No one ever says "It's only a game." when their team is winning.
14. I've reached the age where the happy hour is a nap.
15. Be careful reading the fine print. There's no way you're going to like it.
16. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everyone has the same size bucket.
17. Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos?(And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)
18. Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.
19. After 60, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead!

Always be yourself. Because the people that matter, don't mind.
And the ones that mind, don't matter.

Zada,
excellent. I loved both posts.
May I borrow them?

I second that.

What about those who read USA Today ... only because they are stuck in line at the truck stop???

Zada those are great!

I get lots of those in emails--I have funny friends and relatives! Any time I post something like that, anyone may copy them to send on. They are from an email that is circulating freely, so I have no idea who originally wrote them!

I'm just happy folks get some enjoyment.

I think you'll enjoy the following website:
http://www.thejoymovie.com/

What beautiful pictures, Abe, and words of wisdom to live by!

Beautiful Abe - I needed that! Thanks!