Humor 7/24/00: Are You a Geek? & How to Start Your Day

Hi everyone,

I saw "X-Men" this past weekend and liked it. Although the plot was
simple, the special effects were good and I'm sure that future sequels
will be even better. Now that I've seen the "Patriot" and "X-Men", I'm
not sure if there are any other movies that I really want to see. Let
me know if you have any suggestions of movies you think I should
definitely see.

As I mentioned last week, I had a chance to drive around the Presidio
and surrounding neighborhood and take some pictures of the Golden Gate
bridge. Too bad it was cloudy that day. Here's a link to the pictures.

http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4293849005

A friend of a friend graduated from Babson business school and started a
website called www.smartbridge.com. Please check it out!

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you could cancel forever
a single thing you have to do every day other than your job, what would
it be?

This week's humor was forwarded by Anna Man, followed by an
inspirational piece forwarded by Monica Quock. OK, I admit that I'm a
geek.

Enjoy!

-Josh.
_________________________________________

You may be a geek if...
You've ever used a computer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the same
weekend.
You find yourself interrupting computer store salesman to correct
something he said.
The first thing you notice when walking in a business is their computer
system. ...and offer advice on how you would change it.
You've ever mounted a magnetic tape reel.
You own any shareware.
You know more IP addresses than phone numbers.
You've ever accidentally dialed an IP address.
Your friends use you as tech support.
You've ever named a computer.
You have your local computer store on speed dial.
You can't carry on a conversation without talking about computers.
Co-workers have to E-mail you about the fire alarm to get you out of the
building.
You've ever found "stray" diskettes when doing laundry.
Your computer has it's own phone line - but your teenager doesn't.
You check the national weather service web page for current weather
conditions (rather than look out the window).
You know more URLs than street addresses.
Your pet has a web page.
You get really excited when Yahoo adds your link.
You have ever sent E-mail to someone sitting next to you.
You have ever had a dream involving computers.
You have ever modified an ini file.
You would sell your grandmother for more bandwidth.
You start tilting your head sideways to smile.
You get up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom and stop to check your E-mail
on your way back to bed.
You've entered that USR X2 contest so many times you get e- mail saying
"Forget it, Mike you are not going to win, just go buy the modem".
You know what the USR X2 contest is.
If you have ever dozed off while at the computer.
Have ever e-mailed yourself .
The tech support folks at your ISP call YOU for the tough ones.
You have more than one copy of the same version of software on your
machine.
You have ever submitted a tip to windows95.com.
You have ever chatted with someone while talking to them on the phone.
You are surprised that there are other real foods besides pizza.
__________________________________________

READ THIS. LET IT REALLY SINK IN.
THEN CHOOSE HOW YOU START YOUR DAY TOMORROW.

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood
and always has something positive to say: When someone would ask him how
he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael
was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the
situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went
up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive
person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two
choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to
be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad
happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I
choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I
can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive
side of life. I choose the positive side of life. "Yeah, right, it's not
that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about
choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.
You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect
your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line:
It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Michael said.

Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We
lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about
life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that
Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a
communications tower After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive
care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his
back.

I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how
he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my
scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone
through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went
through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter,
"Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had
two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to
live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Michael continued, "...The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I
was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the
expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.
In their eyes, I read "He's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action.
"What did you do?" I asked. "Well there was a big burly nurse shouting
questions at me," said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to
anything. Yes, I replied."

The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I
took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told
them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of
his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the
choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34) After
all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

You have two choices now:

1. Delete this.
2. Forward it to the people you care about.

I hope you will choose #2. I did.