Random (dad)Thoughts #4

Things that I'm in to- Although I don't really have much time for hobbies or personal interests at the time being, other than publishing this web log(blog!), which I thoroughly enjoy(it's one of my favorite things to do!!) ;-) , when I do have the time, these are some of the ways I would prefer to spend my time. I love Music (almost all kinds), Dogs, I Love Cycling(bikes, of all types), Movies, Herpetology, Horticulture(105x4), Computers, Taking nature walks, Hiking, Camping, Going to the Beach (that's a favorite, and take the dog's too!) , and most of all I Love my Beautiful Daughter Skylar Wheatley (who I barely even know right now :-( , which, by the way, is a major bummer, but also which, by the way, I'm currently working on.) I love you Sky.


Things you(or anybody) should DEFINITELY do in your life-
Respect your elders- I've already talked about the importance of acknowledging and respecting our elders as being worthy of tremendous value to us. I think you pretty much get the point, Sky. Let me just continue a bit by including this clarifying point. Just as those senior to us are still just normal human beings like the rest of us, albeit, with a lot more time on this planet, the wisdom and quality of advice we can inherit from them is only limited by the amount of experience acquired by each individual elder and the extent to which that individual took observation of the things going on around him or her. In other words, being an elder, or "senior" to us, is not necessarily a guarantee that a person will have all that much useful advice or opinion to offer to hand down to us.

I'm just saying that a wise elder could surely offer, with their longevity considered, a broader scope of opinion than, say, a much younger counterpart speaking on the same subject matter. Where as, an ignorant person who's just sat in a chair all their life and never really thought about anything, did anything, or paid much attention to anything, is obviously not going to be this awesome wellspring of wisdom just because they're advanced in age. In fact, in that case they're actually more likely to be harder to comprehend, being subdued by the throes of depression or loneliness, or waning in their sensibilities. By the way, these are living, feeling, human beings also, so be kind to them because they need our love too, even more so. Actually, in that case, they would be a great testament to exactly why we should seize our opportunity to approach our lives with all the energy and zeal we can muster in an effort to get the most we can out of life. See, even these elders can teach us some positive and extremely valuable lessons! :-) ( Good Golly! Elderly People Rock!!) NO LIE


Loyalty- http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=loyal This is a Queen of virtues. I can't stress enough the personal value in holding great personal importance to having an honest sense of loyalty in your heart. Loyalty, by definition, is having an unswerving allegiance, in complete faithfulness to one's lawful sovereign or government, to a private person to whom fidelity is due, or to a cause, ideal, or custom. I would advise you in total solemness to practice this in your life as one of the most character sustaining qualities(virtues) you could ever incorporate in to yourself. Sky, among personal qualities, or, reinforced natural attributes, as I like to think of them, loyalty ranks right around the top of the list. Among the currencies of ones character, this one would be considered "pure platinum"(that's better than golden), sweetheart, and it stands right up there next to integrity.


Integrity- Integrity means being unimpaired in soundness. It is incorruptibility, a firm adherence to a code of moral or artistic values. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=integrity&amp . In lay terms, for purposes of what I'm trying to explain to you, integrity means doing what you say, holding true to your word, being steeled with an ultimate level of dependability. Let me give you an example, let's say a friend tells you she has some furniture to move in to her apartment next Saturday and asks if you would help with that, and you agree to help her. When Saturday comes around, even if you don't feel like helping her or something more fun just came up, having integrity means that you will be there to help your friend like you said you would.

This is a "pure platinum" character sustaining personal quality as well. In fact, loyalty ties directly in with integrity, like twins, and, in my personal opinion, if you have a high level of both of these qualities, it could be said that you are definitely, at least, somewhat, righteous ;-) (in character). I would choose someone to manage an important task for me, in high confidence, if they had these two qualities going for them. Remember, choose integrity over popularity and you'll always be cool. I first heard that from a very talented guitarist named Carlos Santana, he's a great person in real life and in this instance I believe he's offering some dead on accurate advice.


Never Be A Quitter- This actually ties in with having loyalty and integrity as well and it's largely self explanatory. It's important not to give up when you're trying to accomplish something. I'd always be one to encourage you to stick things out when the going gets a little, or a lot, more difficult, but what I want to focus more on now is learning to be a good finisher. The absolute most important step in achieving any goal or fulfilling any desire or generally getting anything done that you want to accomplish is, with out any doubt, taking the first step (beginning). You have to begin before you can get finished, right? Right. Well, an almost equally as important step essential to completing any endeavor or fulfilling any goal, with any sense of completeness at all, is to put the final cap on things by making sure you have properly finished.

If you partake in any activity with objectivity and a target result in sight, then that activity is not finished, that target result you were aiming for has not been fully achieved, untill all the loose ends have been tied up and the activity is truly completed. When you accept a challenge, or take on an effort to reach any goal, that initial vision should include not only your plan of attack, but all details required to complete a proper finish as well. It's ultimately important to anything you do, almost as important as getting started. (Teach Yourself To Become A Good Finisher) ;-)


Honesty- Simply put, this is probably the #1 quality for any individual to ever hope for, strive toward, and insist upon integrating in to their list of personal character attributes. Honesty implies a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way. Honesty is such an imperative as a quality we desire in others, and a personal character attribute, that no other facet of one's character can be held as it's equal in importance. If loyalty and integrity are to be considered as platinum, then honesty would be comparable as an infinite carat pure and flawless diamond. This is the king of all, the grand prize of personal attributes. If you are honest you will be much better received and respected by others. If you are truly committed to honesty, if that committment has integrity, then your life will automatically be cleared of the majority of the trouble that you would have gotten yourself in to, had you not been an honest person, and thus, the consequences you would have had to endure as a result.

Honesty is a priceless commodity among human beings, with it your life is virtually guaranteed to be a whole lot easier. Honesty frees your mind and emotions to take a more relaxed look at life and consequently affords you the innate ability to freely experience life on a more unencumbered and fearless level. Honesty is just such a huge and important topic that I could not possibly say enough about it in this post alone, so, this topic will undoubtedly be reapproched many times in future posts. Honesty is living, speaking, and behaving in truth, and truth is, in it's very essence, as close as we'll ever get to what we would think of as being actual reality. You can not be truly "real" if you do not live in truth, if you do not committ yourself to total honesty you can never be completly real as a person. I love you Sky, you should too, exercise honesty throughout every aspect of your life, even down to the finest detail, sweetie, that's probably the finest piece of advice I could ever give you. Honesty's closest friend is courage, they're like symbiotic buddies, forever looking out for each other.


Walk- With the world moving faster and faster around us it seems that everyone is looking for the next slick way to get from one place to another in the shortest time humanly possible. In this hectic melee of bodies rushing and vehicles of every type zooming from place to place, it seems as though more and more people are forgetting about the most natural and health inspiring mode of transport ever concieved, simply going for a walk. Walking is healthful and therapeutic and some anthropologists even contend that it may be a necessary part of normal human function. We're actually designed to walk, as our primary mode of getting around, even our brain is wired that way. If you don't walk at least several blocks a day, I would strongly encourage you to give it a try. Sometimes when you are going to go somewhere that's within walking distance, and you had planned to take another means of transportation, you could opt to walk the distance instead. http://www.walkingconnection.com/

There is so much intrinsic value in the act of simply going for a casual stroll, that I'm surprised someone hasn't tried to find some way to put a price tag on it, although somebody has probably tried, shhhhhh, let's not give'em any ideas. One of the best parts about enjoying a nice walk is that it's totally cost free. Heck, if your lucky, you might even find some cash on the road or trail where you are walking (Cha-ching!). You can't do that while your zooming down the road in some car. Walking is great, it's healthy, enjoyable, and good for your soul. Walking doesn't cost a dime and it's accessible to anyone that's physically able to get up and go. Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay about it, it's called "walking", and you can read some here http://www.transcendentalists.com/walking.htm . Mr. Thoreau agreed with me that everyone could benefit if they would make taking a peaceful walk an essential part of every day. (Happy? Bored? Feeling Kinda Down or Frustrated? Go Outside And Take Yourself A Peaceful Walk!!) ;-)




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LOOK > P ersonal I mmediate G ratification > Get it?> Be an Original, Sky > (Buck The Status Quo) ;-)



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(more)Random facts that could probably only be of interest to you(and yours)- Skylar is a wonderful name of Dutch decent and it originates from the Dutch surname Schuyler, which means "scholar". Hmmmm, pretty brainy sounding. There is reputedly also an English origin that I've heard of and it's a total rage. In the English origin your name means, get this....... Eternal Life, Strength, Love and Beauty. Yeah!!!! Go Baby!!!! That totally rocks Sky, and I bet it couldn't be more accurate. ;-)

In your particular names sake, there was a beautiful little girl who, tragically, was pulled away from her parents far too soon, and it broke their hearts. The young girl had some really unfortunate medical problems and I can't imagine what her parents went through. They loved her VERY much and have since started an annual fund raising benefit in her name. GOD BLESS HER PARENTS. You can read more about that here http://www.skylarneil.org/story.shtml . Your mother named you Skylar because she was inspired by this girl and her parents, and, because she just really liked the name. I really liked it too, and so, on November 16th 1991, you officially became Skylar L'nea Wheatley. To me, that was one of the greatest days of all time!!!

The "top 25" link column on your web log has ceased to exist. I've found a few more sights that I felt I just had to add to the list, so, now there are 29!!! They're pretty cool, check'em out!!!! :-) Well, I guess that's all for this one ............

I LOVE YOU SKYLAR!!!!! I HOPE YOU LIKE YOUR WEB LOG!!!!!! I HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON!!!!! I'LL POST AGAIN IN A FEW DAYS!!!!! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF SWEETHEART !!!!! MAKE SURE THAT U TREAT PEOPLE RIGHT!!!!!! REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BE CONSCIOUS OF THE CHOICES THAT YOU MAKE, AND MAKE SURE TO MAKE SURE TO DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT!!!!! YES!!!! BECAUSE, IT TOTALLY MATTERS!!!!! PEACE OUT BABY!!!!!! BYE 4 NOW MY LOVELY DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!! C-YA SWEETIE!!!!!! I GOT THE JAZZ,'CAUSE I'VE GOT YOU IN MY HEART!!!!! WHOOHOOOO!!!!!! YOUR DAD'S A SILLY IDIOT!!!!!!! WHEN AM I GOING TO STOP WRITING ALL BIG LIKE THIS!!!!!! WHA-OH, THE DAMN THINGS STUCK!!!!! HELP!!!!!! HEEEEEEELLLLP!!!!!!!!! AGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! whoa,that's better.....alrighty then......love ya! ;-)