Expectation

Life changes all the time. Consequently people change their minds all the time. Don't try to define a person by any single moment.

Participation

No matter who you are, the game of life goes on - with or without you. Question is whether we choose to be participants or merely spectators.

Change

Some people hang on, waiting, hoping for change. Other people do something to bring the change that some people are hanging on for.

Target(ting) your privacy?

School accessories for kids I don't have...

Aftershave for a man I don't have...

Blenders, toasters, microwave... already have those...

Candy galore... all the kinds that I don't like...

...*sigh*... useless junk mail!

Can someone P.l-e-a-s-e send me some coupons that I can ac.tually use?!

Where’s a Target when you need one?

According to a Forbes article (Feb 2012) following Target’s hiring of Statistician Andrew Pole in 2002, until 2010 the store reported an increase in revenue of $23 billion ($44b in 2002 to $67b in 2010). I’d say someone is doing something right.

How Target figured out a teen girl was pregnant before her father did… Now there’s a heading that got my attention, and I simply had to read the article because, after all, curiosity killed the cat, right?

So before we get started, let me enlighten you with a summary of the article: teenage girl is having sex but dad doesn’t know. Based on her spending, the Target marketing team surmises – and right on target (pun intended ;) ) – that she is pregnant and start sending her coupons in the mail for all things baby. (Heaven knows, babies can be expensive; she is sure to need all the help she can get!) However, the angle of the article is not one of gratitude. It is because of these coupons that dad discovered the fact that his little girl is pregnant, and so the angle is the individual’s right to privacy instead.

But is it really a matter of privacy?

Oh deer, isn't that just cUtE - CLICK!

For a while I had some Facebook friends who love the outdoors. I love the outdoors: jet ski's, quad bikes, walks on the beach, photography, mountain bike riding, walks (beach, woods, parks), bird song, sunsets, etc., to name but a few. It took a little while for me to realize that for some outdoors means hunting.

I don't have a problem with hunting per se, but I would much rather be shooting with a camera than a gun. I definitely did not understand their passion and before long the posts became pretty predictable: 

I see a deer

I smell a deer

I dreamt about a deer

Shh, I think I hear a deer

I'm cooking a deer

I'm mounting a deer (head)

I'm wondering if I'll shoot a deer (this season)

Aaw shoot! The deer that got away...

Then - oh dear! - I've had enough of deer, and gradually one after the other dropped off the friends list.

Warning: caring could cost you your job

Source: petRescue

Today I read a story that left me feeling confused, frustrated and a little angry. 

According to a news article (10 Jul 2013) a man left his dog inside his closed up truck in the heat in a Walmart parking lot while shopping. A (now former) Walmart employee, Carla Cheney, confronted the man about it. He responded - sadly rather arrogantly - that he will simply not be shopping at Walmart in future.

Cheney's manager responded to the situation by firing her! What the...?!!

Why am I confused? 

When a dog dies in a closed, hot car - which happens way too frequently, if you ask me - everyone is up in arms about animal cruelty. Yet - heaven forbids - someone tries to prevent this and their 'arse' gets fired!? I don't get it... Oh yes, that's right. Every man has the right to do with his dog whatever he pleases - including harm or kill it. That's freedom, right? (dripping with sarcasm) No, that's cruelty. And no, it's not ok! You do not have the right to hurt or endanger your dog. Do something about it, or don't have a dog!

Some days the dog will chew on Hope

Sometimes Hope falls to the floor... and then the dog chews on it.

The stork brought a package to our pond

Just a few weeks ago these little fuzzy bundles arrived at the neighbourhood pond - Canada Geese (not "Canadian"). I thought they were just too cute! 

They couldn't have been more than just a few days old when I spotted them for the first time. Aren't most animal babies just the cutest thing when they're so tiny? I didn't want to miss the opportunity.

A foot painter's 'normal'

(Source: a Facebook post)

This is pretty darn remarkable! 

...and I'm not talking about the fact that he is painting with his foot... 

No, I'm talking about his ability to allow his mind to conceive something way outside of the usual perception of how it "should be done" - 

and then creating such beautiful works of art!

What if we learned to use our feet for more than just walking right from the get-go? Wouldn't that then be "normal"? 

Perhaps "normal" is simply the limited patterns of thinking that a large part of society has been trained in since birth, and it's perceived as "normal" because it is not the exception, i.e. masses are doing it, therefore it must be "normal". Says who? The masses? 

It takes courage to be different; to stand out from the crowd, but different can be beautiful; different can be limitless, different can be liberating.

I think there's a very good possibility that it is true that we're only using something like 10 % of our human brain. This kind of creativity must be born from the other 90 %. Imagine what else is hidden there?

Source: If I knew - trust me - I'd tell you

One man's clang-e-lang is another man's Tic-Tac song

Ever tried sneaking a Tic-Tac mint in the middle of a sacred, silent moment? By the time you've got that little white sucker in your cheek the whole neighbourhood knows you've got bad breath! It 'ain't no whisper - na-aah - she's the mother of all 'clang-e-lang', as you discreetly try to shake one from the little plastic holder.

Then again, it turns out, it can also be music to your ears - literally - as it is clearly demonstrated by the very gifted Tic-Tac Musician below. Check out the most impressive Tic-Tac advertisement by far!

Tic Tac Musician - watch more funny videos

The plain ol' white ones are my personal favourite.

Sour milk

I grabbed the bottle from my bag without even giving it a second thought. I had poured a little bit of milk into an empty water bottle for my coffee at the office; there are times when creamer simply doesn't do it for me. Don't ask me why, but for some reason it never crossed my mind that the milk could turn sour if not kept in the fridge. Since sipping on my sour milk coffee yesterday morning I've not stopped thinking about it.

After having watched so many documentaries on the mass production of food - factory food I call it - I know just what to look for to avoid in the store - those perfectly smooth, over sized - too good to be true products and fruit & veg...? It really is too good to be true - naturally anyway. Factory food would be those products of which the DNA has been genetically messed with - to grow faster, to grow larger, to last longer, to mass produce in an abnormal short space of time.

Nope! give me organic any day - that which was produced or grown the old fashioned way! Give me those scarred apples, bruised bananas and bird-pecked peaches; those crooked carrots and smaller than desired heads of broccoli. Give me that bread that grows mould after three to five days, and yes, that milk that goes sour... even if I have to pay a little bit more.

Better keep the milk in the fridge then, huh? It's the good stuff. Otherwise there is still at least 97 good ideas of what you can do with your sour milk - check out Cooks.com for some creative suggestions.

Pearly whites

I hear endless comments about how long I brush my teeth for. Don't they know that if you take good care of your teeth, that you'll have a beautiful smile for much longer? You just don't know when that smile might be worth a million dollars... literally ;) Therefore, brush, b-r-r-ush, b-r-r-r-ush!

More Cute | Forward this Graphic

So how long do you brush your teeth for?