Especially .............

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I'm a little bit ashamed of my critical words (to anyone willing to listen) following a dreadful AA birthday meeting where a number of people with 15+ years of sobriety were incredibly self-serving. That does not give me the right to froth at the mouth and spew venom towards them, especially behind their backs. I have a lot of work to do in this area.

for my sponsor, especially when he's not around (but he's always looking over my shoulder)

especially, for my 6:30am colleagues as we become a team in building a Mardi Gras float for a fundraiser

that we had a successful initial committee meeting of the 2011 Houston Roundup. Many more meetings to come throughout this year. The event doesn't happen until late November.

Happiness walks on busy feet.
- Kitte Turmell

Free Hugs ........

All you gotta do is just click HERE !!

New Technology

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this.

the only requirement ...

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I still have a desire to drink alcohol no more

for Tradition 3 - the only requirement ...

for all the blogger friends who are still posting and especially to those who are no longer posting, but have been a part of my recovery

for GodShots ......... I had a set of wheel rims for sale on Craigslist since January. I've had many phone calls and "promises" from people that they would buy them, but no luck. Wednesday, a guy called and said he wanted them. He came by last night and bought them. So I went to my account at Craigslist to remove the classified advert. It had just expired and had been removed automatically during the afternoon. Voila!


Laugh when you can,
apologize when you should,
and let go of what you can't change.
Life's too short to be anything... but happy.
- Anonymous

Behavior.

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I have much better behavior outwardly than I used to. My mind still "goes there" at times, but I don't usually behave too badly.

that I no longer spend any energy trying to find excuses for my bad behavior

for a new insight to doing a daily 10th step -- "Did my self-will cause me or another person difficulty today?"

for some progress and never perfection



If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
- Chinese Proverb

Humility is the key

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that sobriety and recovery are so popular amongst the crowd of people with whom I choose to associate

for all the jobs I had in my younger days, which provided me with a solid foundation to live a full life and experience things I never expected to experience

yesterday, our 6:30am group read Gutter Bravado from the 4th edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. I love these quotes ... "planned abstinence was extrememly stressful." ..... "the downward spiral of my life began making smaller circles." ... " I began to feel like a clown juggling too many balls." I really identify with these.

that I keep trying to do and be my best; when I fail, I learn a lesson


Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
- Helen Keller

Insanity

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I think I had some good words of encouragement to a new sponsee who relapsed on crack. He called and was crying terribly because he just "graduated" from a treatment center that charged him $90,000. He wanted to return and try it again. Insanity?

that I was able to embrace a higher power, against all odds

that I have so many options today, especially the good ones


The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch

back to gratitude ........

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I remember to go to my regular AA meetings so I won't forget what it was like before I went to my regular AA meetings

for moments of peace and serenity and the awareness that comes from those moments

that the early guys and gals in AA recognized the necessity of principles before personalities

that although I'm almost 57 years old, I still love to be silly


A man is not old until his regrets take the place of his dreams.
- Yiddish Proverb

Idiots

Riddles

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three
rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full
of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions
that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over
5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go
out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner. How can this be?

3. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when
you throw it away?

4. Can you name three consecutive days without using the
words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

5. This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious as to just how
quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so
ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In
fact, nothing is wrong with it. It is highly unusual though. Study
it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But
if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without
any coaching!


SEE BELOW









THE ANSWERS TO ALL FIVE OF THE RIDDLES ARE BELOW:


1. The third room.. Lions that haven't eaten in three years are
dead.

That one was easy, right?

2. The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband,
developed it, and hung it up to dry (shot; held under water; and hung).

3. Charcoal, as it is used in barbecuing.

4. Sure you can name three consecutive days, yesterday, today,
and tomorrow!

5. The letter e, which is the most common letter used in the
English language, does not appear even once in the paragraph.


How did you do?

Unconditional Compassion

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that it doesn't hurt to be compassionate, loving and tolerant

for new behaviors, no matter how difficult it is to form habits

for an acute awareness that most of the people with whom I come into contact with have issues and may very well be hurting today; it's my job to be an example of recovery in all the ways I can

that I have no hidden agenda(s)



Success is not the key to happiness.
Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
- Albert Schweitzer

Happy birthday MOM!

1924

1966

2005

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that my Mom would have been 88 years old today. She was born in 1923 and died in August 2008. She was a major guiding influence in my life, her and my father having adopted me at birth. As a 50+ year old man in recovery, my finest moments were the 3 years after her major stroke, until she died. My living amends to her were to be present in her life, much more so than I had been while drinking. I became her primary caretaker and handled most details with my sister's assistance and approval. I visited her in hospital and in her nursing home numerous times each month, often just sitting by her bedside without her conscious knowledge of my presence. I think of her almost daily and miss her. But as a realist, I know she lived a full life and it was her time to go. She had a wonderful life.

for awareness not to make permanent decisions from temporary situations

for the generosity of my friends

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Step 6

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for this paragraph from Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions .......

Self-righteous anger also can be very enjoyable. In a perverse way we can actually take satisfaction from the fact that many people annoy us, for it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness.

I have so much to learn

that I'm willing to learn all I can


Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Peaceful Easy Feeling

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for good things that happen when I get out of the way

for Step One meetings because they are the basic reminders that I can never hear enough about

for clearer perceptions than I used to have

that I do my very best to follow through on committments -- I get pretty tired of so many people who agree to do something and then don't do it.


You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
- John Wooden

V-Day

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for another weekend of complete sobriety from mind-altering liquids and drugs; that makes 385 consecutive weekends of sobriety (LOL)

that my friend David D. got to speak his sobriety story on Saturday; he's moving to California next week, so it was just in time

that 2 good friends are celebrating 35 years of continuous sobriety; one celebrated yesterday and one today. Congratulations to Frank J. and Bob S. Really though, I want to thank these guys for showing me how to be a great example of recovery.

that I have a Valentine

If you understand, things are just as they are;
if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
- Zen Proverb

When things work

If you thought that the people who set up a room full of dominoes to have them knocked over later was amazing, you haven't seen anything yet. There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in these images. Everything that you see happened in real time exactly as you see it.

The recording required 606 takes and in the first 605 takes there always was something, that didn't work (usually of minor importance). The recording cost 6 million dollars and it took 3 months to finish, including the engineering design of the sequence.

The duration of the video is only 2 minutes, but every time that Honda shows the commercial on British television, they make enough money to support any of us for the rest of our lives. However, this commercial has turned out to be the most displayed in the history of the Internet.

The Slogan Slapper

No regrets

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I choose NOT to get involved in the hatred of other peoples

for a good attitude - it will make a bad day better and a good day great!

for normalcy - whatever that is.

that I have a Valentine

He who spends time regretting the past loses the present and risks the future.
- Quevedo

For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, "It might have been".
- John Greenleaf Whittier

Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can't build on it - it's only good for wallowing in.
- Katherine Mansfield

Simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
- don Miguel Angel Ruiz

"as is"

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for Step 6 and the willingness to be "entirely ready" to let go of a few of my character defects

for ALL the people in my life - those who I feel close to and those to whom my instincts teel me to stay away from

for calmness, being contented and serenity

that Hayden made it home in one piece


To go against the dominant thinking of your friends,
of most of the people you see every day,
is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
- Theodore H. White

2+9=11

arrival of a cold front

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for almost infinite patience that I didn't used to have; I'm not sure where it came from, but it seems to coincide with my level of spiritual fitness. hmmmmmmmmm...

that I don't have to wear a flat-top in order to have a level head

that an old friend showed up at Lambda yesterday and we got to spend the afternoon together

for healthy relationships - something pretty much unknown to me before I got sober

that my significant other returns from overseas today. He's been away for a month. nuff said.


Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

I'm so glad we have this time together ...

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for dinner last night with a friend; we had a good chat, one that we both needed

that I feel comfortable with life and with all those about me

for those times during they day (any day, every day) when I recognize that the steps of A.A. are working me

that I survived my drinking days to become what I am supposed to be


The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
- Benjamin Mays

Taking care of me

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for acceptance of things just the way they are; to feel any other way is to cause myself problems

that I got to share my experience, strength and hope Saturday night for 55 minutes. Some of you call this qualifying; down here we call it a speaker meeting. I was so focused that the first time I looked at the clock I saw that I was already 3 minutes past time to stop. LOL The last time I did this I ended up 20 minutes short. Why the difference? I know this: I am in such a good place emotionally and spiritually that I can just go on and on. I want to give away what I've learned about myself and about recovery.
Where did this come from?

for so many people who support me. I have a difficult time accepting this.
Is this a low self-esteem issue?


Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
- The Buddha

He who takes medicine and neglects his diet wastes the skill of his doctors.
- Chinese Proverb

A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
- Spanish Proverb

paraprosdokians

A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect. Enjoy!


The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right -- only who is left.

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way; so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.
To steal an idea from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted paychecks.

Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "In an emergency, notify:" I put " A DOCTOR."

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Some cause happiness wherever they go.. Others, whenever they go.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt plus a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Having a bad day?

being sober and stayin' that way

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for the results of being sober

that I can't be sober 2 days at a time

that I've learned how to stay sober

that I choose to do the right things (mostly)

that I know how to take direction, without resentment


"The gap between your expectations and your reality is your suffering".
~ St. John Augustine

Smart cat and some butterflies

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that the Promises listed on pages 83/84 of Alcoholics Anonymous are mostly true for me, most of the time

for hope and faith in my life today

that my HP has no limits except for those that I place on him/her/it/whatever

for a day without pressing projects -- this is really rare for this retired guy



There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.
- Richard Buckminster Fuller

'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly, 'one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.'
- Hans Christian Anderson

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
- Richard Bach

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore

workin' it

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for what is possibly the ultimate honor in recovery; listening to the fifth step of a recovering alcoholic

for AHA! moments, whenever they come. Funny how they are never expected. I guess that's why they're called AHA! moments. LOL

for some cool thoughts about my mother. Sometimes, I really miss her presence.

that I've never been a troublemaker although I have always enjoyed stirring up some ____.


Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.
- Anonymous

Eyes Wide Open

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I have a conscious contact with my HP every morning and every night before falling to sleep. It has become a way of living that I absolutely must have. Before recovery, it would never have been possible.

that I'm a survivor and it's for a reason

that I will hear a 5th step from a sponsee later today; one of the finest honors I have experienced

that I have no feelings of entitlement

You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry.
And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.
- Walter Hagen