Actions Speak Louder

At one time or another, most of us have been in the situation where we become enthralled with the thought of learning a new endeavor.  Whether it's learning to play a musical instrument, sailboarding or taking photos, a level of financial commitment is involved. For example, if we're learning to play the saxophone, renting or buying an instrument is usually a necessity unless we're fortunate and know someone who has a spare they can loan us. In the typical scenario, we don't have an option to borrow the equipment, so we'll need to spend money.

One of the questions I've always struggled with is how long to investigate the choices before deciding what to buy in regards to equipment. Is there value in taking the time to learn about the subject by reading as much background material as possible before making an investment? Or is it wiser to get started quickly by investing making an early investment in entry-level equipment? The more complex and expensive the entry costs, the more likely the decision will become a roadblock on the pathway to progress.

If we take our time and research, our ability to make wise choices increases dramatically. We might even be able to skip purchasing entry-level equipment and buy (or rent) professional gear. But there is a common pitfall hiding on this path. A person can become a read-only participant who gathers information but does not put it to use. I'm not knocking book learning. Theory and background information is crucial in creating a solid understanding of how everything fits together. But without dirtying our hands in practical exercise, we won't learn from the best teacher: failure. Simply stated, when we fail, it captures our attention. We focus in order to learn what went wrong. We add the experience to our knowledge and have a much better chance of succeeding as a result.

Please Read On . . .

Confidence found in recent late night Gunshots

It's not every day you wake up in suburban West St. Louis County, in the middle of the night to the sound of gunshots. 

That was the case last night when, out of a pretty decent slumber, I heard the first rounds.  Six in a row, back on the hill behind our house.  We have deer back there, and the first thing that I thought of was what I always feared--someone would want to take out a couple of my incredible bucks. Yes, we take ownership for them,  because they are part of our lives.  They are beautiful creatures. 

This time of year the males start their rutting, and they bulk up in to pretty decent specimen's.  They keep separate from he doe's, skittish.  It's like they understand, regardless of being in the middle of suburbia, that they could be shot at any time because of their male stature.

We heard shots again, and this time they seemed closer.  While I got out of bed, I heard my wife opening and shutting the back door.  She had already gone out to take a look and try to put a stop to what was happening.  When I joined her, I noticed that she was on the phone with someone, others had heard the shots, others were calling the police and security up on Logan Universities Campus, up where the deer live.  I told her to come inside, after all, who knows whether a stray shot could make it over to the house.  We had always thought that this would happen. Nobody knew what the heck was going on.

Security said the shots sounded like they were coming adjacent to the grounds on the north side of the property, and that others had wondered if it were poaching or some other type of crime being committed.  Back inside, I was acutely aware of every sound outside my open window, the shots had subsided.  In minutes a county helicopter could be heard in the background. 

As things calmed down, and with confidence that the problem had been handed over to the authorities, I wondered about how the media would respond to gunshots being fired in our little utopia of East Chesterfield.  Perhaps it wasn't deer the shooter was after, perhaps it was murder?  Who knows what happened?  It wasn't that long ago that a home invasion yielded the death of a woman up on Clayton Road.  Anything can happen now days.  Regardless of the neighborhood, we are certainly not immune to this type of thing.  I committed the rest of the night to being on guard.

While laying in bed with the gunshots still fueling my bewilderment on what had just occurred, John Carney spewed all sorts of things controversial from the the radio on the Big 550.  I am indeed a late night listener and it was obvious that I would not return to sleep.  My heart still beating from the adrenalin, a comment filtered in: ."Cardinals huge win in the 9th over the Nationals just minutes ago".  In that distance, the sounds of distant fireworks suddenly became pronounced coming from neighborhood's all throughout the county.   While my wife and I laid there laughing at what had just occurred I swore it would be the last time that I would count the Birds out in 6, ifyouknowhatimtalkinbout. 

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It’s been decided. I’m going to live to one hundred!

 

The Geekiest Refrigerator

Dr. Who fans take note, your humble fridge is a TARDIS in the making...

 

The Laugh Button is a place to discover stand up comedy. We have been promoting comedy online since 2004 and realized the Internet is filled with humor but needed more stand up, the purest form of the art. As comedy geeks filled with a passion for good laughs we put together The Laugh Button.

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THE TEMPESTUOS NANCY FOUTS

Aren’t amazing Nancy Fouts creations? Her sculptures are designed on paradox and juxtaposition: on expectation of the unexpected. She combines objects and materials, linking ideas and common sense to surrealism and playfulness.  She basically recombines the meaning of everyday objects. Nancy Fouts, American born but Londoner for life, has pursued a career in advertising. She is either an image maker and a sharp artist. Surely a provocative and witty discovering.

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Original Source: http://www.nancyfouts.com/

 

Hello! We are Upcycle That and we love Upcycling! We curate and create the best upcycling ideas. Why? Because Upcycling is a great way to reuse materials and reduce our footprint. Look through our menus and browse by materials or end uses. To learn more about upcycling check out our about page. Get ready to think about that box of unused items a little differently.

Home Brewed iPhone Amp

We definitely “have a thing” for electricity-free iPhone amps, and this lo-fi solution is made of PVC and an old bike horn! This is the absolute bees knees.

Upcycle That!

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"Cycling about 100 miles every week;
thinking as I go and writing it all down"

Fun

 

Brilliant fun; great fun; excellent fun – really, really, bloody good fun. Jolly fun. Damn good fun. Simple fun or, maybe, innocent fun. Good, old-fashioned fun. Even fantastic fun if alliteration’s your thing. Any kind of fun you can think of – a fast-food-chain’s cup with ‘thirsty fun’ written on it is none of them. This is ‘fun’ eviscerated. This is fun abused. This renders the notion of fun wholly, utterly and completely meaningless. This is desecrated fun; debased fun. If this is now understood by anyone as fun, whoever they are, however old or young they are, where ever they are, however otherwise deprived of fun in any sensible sense of the word they are, then they have been cruelly conned. If I was feeling forgiving, I’d feel pity for the foul, fun-free, fun-wrecking individual responsible, because somewhere along the line, someone was.

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