Things I've learned...

33.) Keep It Simple, Stupid. (The KISS principal.)

34.) Saving money by doing your own repairs is great, and a good majority of them you can do yourself or with a book from the library, but always remember that there are PROFESSIONALS who do some work for a reason, (i.e. plumbers, HVAC, roofing, carpenters, etc.)

35.) Laughter heals. (Saw it once on a poster in a hospital, it’s never failed me since.)

36.) Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

37.) When someone talks shit about you, they’re generally overly friendly afterward. In a hostile situation, (be it politicking, work, etc.) look for this red flag from people who are not normally nice/polite or have otherwise run lukewarm to cold.

38.) Therapy is like programming. Garbage-in-garbage-out. The less honest you are with your therapist, or the more lies you tell them, the less they can help you.

39.) Keep your clothes. Fashion is cyclical. In 20 years they’ll be “in” again.

40.) Say what you mean and do what you say.

26.) ANY job worth doing, is a job worth doing well.

27.) Management is VERY different from Leadership.

28.) Use the right tool for the right job.

29.) When you interview for a job, understand that an interview is something that goes both ways. You’re ALSO interviewing the company to make sure that you want to work there.

30.) When working on a team, if possible make sure you train the person above you as well as the person below you. If that’s not possible, make sure you train at least two other co-workers in your processes. You’ll not only gain the respect of your co-workers but you’ll also always make sure you’re covered to take a vacation.

31.) If you’re worrying about `job security’, your co-workers disparaging you behind your back or if you’re going to be fired if you take vacation, you’re in the wrong job, period. Leave as soon as possible.

32.) As a manager or team leader your job can be boiled down into three basic functions;

a.) Motivating your team to do good work.

b.) When an individual on your team does something `good’ or worth recognition, make sure that THEY as well as the ENTIRE TEAM is recognized for it. (I.e, it’s not your place to take credit, place credit where it’s properly due.)

c.) When an individual, or the team does something bad, it’s YOUR JOB to take responsibility. Shield your team from upper management’s wrath. Act as an umbrella. Once that’s done, go back to your team, ask how “WE ALL” can do it better and above all, finally, do NOT call out the offending individual in front of the team. Discipline in PRIVATE. Calling out in front of everybody undermines your authority, creates an environment of fear and eventually disrespect. (There are caveats to this, but they are far and few between. Walk this line carefully.) Follow these three rules and you will always be a respected and well-liked manager by both your subordinates and your superiors.

20.) Learn how to play a musical instrument. It’s worth it and chicks will dig you in College.

21.) Everyone exists in their own self-created “shell” or “perception” of reality. Each and every one of us parses the information presented to us, via sound, sight, touch, smell and creates a picture, colored and biased by our previous knowledge and beliefs and calls that, “reality.” Your reality does not necessarily match that of someone else’s all the time. The closer you come to embracing someone else’s `reality’, the better you will be able to communicate with them.

22.) Strive to see things how other people would see them.

23.) That guy who just cut you off in traffic? He’s not doing that personally to you, in fact he doesn’t even know your name, where you live, the fact that you recently broke up with your boy/girl friend or that your family dog died when you were eleven years old. He isn’t actually thinking about you at all, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get mad at him, right? Why give him the finger?

24.) 85% of all anger is irrational. It’s up to you to manage the remaining 15% of `rational justified anger’ in a positive and constructive manner.

25.) A country can be judged by how well it treats it’s prisoners.

13.) Television, it’s really honestly not worth it. If you want to see that cool historical HBO series or PBS series, rent them. You avoid the commercials like that as well.

14.) Extremists, be they either right or left, are generally deranged.

15.) If you want to make a difference, work with the system to make it better. Protesting is the quickest way to turn people off of what you’re saying. (i.e. When you’re standing with your sign that says, `Get US out of Iraq!’ next to the guy with the sign that says, `Aliens are HERE!’, by default you absorb that guy’s credibility.)

16.) In a survival situation, everything else is secondary to the `will to live’.

17.) The way someone treats waitstaff or cashiers is a direct representation of their character.

18.) A boonie hat is a great tool in the wilderness for keeping the sun off of your neck and out of your eyes but if you need to keep your situational awareness up, tie a bandanna or extra t-shirt around and over your head and hair. That allows you greater peripheral vision, as well as the ability to notice things ABOVE you, (that the brim of a hat would normally block) as well as increased hearing, (ears aren’t blocked by the brim as well.) In addition, the bandanna will also keep spiders and other tree-dwelling insects out of your hair.

19.) In an emergency situation with a large party, if someone is in shock, assign them small tasks to do such as clearing brush for a sleeping area, boiling water, gathering wood for a fire, or organization and inventory of usable items. This will give them a sense of accomplishment, usefulness, teamwork and improve their disposition.

1.) When shooting at an enemy, two shots center mass usually does the trick. Any more is a waste of ammo.

2.) You can dip matches into melted wax, then let them dry and this waterproofs them.

3.) National leaders who display the characteristics of a psychopathic dictator, (Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe) generally always become psychopathic dictators, (Jean-Claude Duvalier, Radovan Karadžić) and it’s only a matter of time before they begin killing tens of thousands of people.

4.) As you cook more, you become a better cook. As you become a better cook, you slowly lose the need for measurements of things like spices, garlic, etc. and begin to rely on `gustare’, (`to taste’) for measurement. You’ll also notice recipes that are written this way.

5.) When lost, STOP MOVING. PERIOD. Every mis-step takes you farther from where you want to be.

6.) A human being will walk in wide looping circles. This is because we have a predominant foot/leg. Be careful of this in plains areas, open desert and the jungle. To avoid this, pick out a large object/landmark and walk towards it.

7.) When surviving on untreated water, you must boil it for at LEAST 15 minutes to make sure it’s potable. Any less and you run the risk of becoming sick. This renders the taste of water “flat”. Add a pinch of salt during the cooling process to improve taste.

8.) The simplest possible explanation IS usually the correct one. (Occam’s razor.)

9.) North of the equator, moss will grow MORE on the north side of a tree. South of the equator, the reverse is true. This is a good way to get a bearing on the direction you’re traveling.

10.) If lost in the wilderness, follow a river/stream downstream. You’ll find civilization faster.

11.) Montgomery was right. Only attack when the odds are tenfold in your favor.

12.) In an emergency situation, you can use regular needle and thread as emergency stitches. Alternately, you can also super-glue the wound closed in a pinch, but this is not recommended.

...made a decision to not adopt any more goals, until after doing at least three Poncho panels, but hey. This one gestated last night after an amazing dinner with the kat and formed this morning as I was going out for some greasy-greasy fast food.