Bumper Stickers

I've decided I don't really care for bumper stickers or any sort of sticker people put in their windows or frames that go around license plates. Mainly because I feel like they are usually one of 3 things: some sort of advertisement, some statement that makes a jab at some one else or a group of people, or some lame shot at humor. On occasion you will see that random bumper sticker that is kind of funny but those ones don't ever seem to be mass distributed. The ones that are all over the place are usually the crappy ones.

Over the next few days pay attention to what you see on cars and let us know if you see any good ones. You can also point out some of the bad ones too.

Here's some of the typical ones I see that I'm tired of, if you have one of these don't take it too personally that I don't like one of your car decorations.

Anything related to the Skin Industries brand - these are the window stickers that outline girl devils and what not.

NOTW - the not of this world window stickers can be very ellaborate but I think it's kind of an odd message to give everyone driving behind you. Most people probably don't know what it means.

Any "I'd rather be..." license plate frames. Quite frankly I don't really care and it is usually stuff I could guess anyway considering most people would rather be doing anything than driving around town.

Political stickers - I don't need to know who people voted for 12 years ago, "Clinton/Gore" is really no longer a valid sticker.

Social Issue statements - When you put these on your car, are you really doing that much to improve the issue? Do people really make an effort to save the dolphins because it said to on your car. Or do I have the power to legalize marijuana and I was just waiting for your bumper to tell me to do it?

Bands - what's funny about a lot of these is if you read it and you've never heard of the band, chances are you don't realize its a band name you are reading.

Honda Sticker - When you're driving a Honda Civic it doesn't seem necessary to put a big sticker in the window that says "Honda"

Calvin - I'm almost curious with this one of what all people can portray calvin doing, and where is Hobbes in these illustrations?

This list is getting long so here's all the rest: Honor Student/Student of the month, Any sort of ribbon sticker that tells people to do something like support our troops, pencil sketches of your family members with their names on them, old harvest crusade stickers, in memory of window decals.

I hope I don't anger any of you too much with these!!

My parents spanked me

At work today we some how got into a brief discussion on disciplining kids. In this discussion I was basically told that it is no longer acceptable to spank your kids. My question is, when did things change? When I was a kid I was actually a pretty good kid and didn't get in too much trouble, but when I did I was usually spanked by my parents. A spanking was usually done on a spur of the moment basis, like I just talked back or said something I shouldn't or hit my sister or something and my parents would say "Hey! Get over here!" then they would spank me on my butt once or twice and say "you are not allowed to talk like that" or "don't talk back to your mother that way". It wasn't so much that these spankings hurt, especially as I got older, but they sent a firm message that what I was doing would not be tolerated by my parents. In instances where my parents found out about something I did in the past, maybe a few days ago my punishment would be "something like go to your room and we'll talk about this later" then when they would come speak to me they would explain their dissappointment in my actions and explain or re-explain that it is not acceptable behavior. I think ultimately both the spank and the firm talking to served as a wake up call to me, to let me know that doing what I did was wrong and should not be done again. The spank was often a little more abrupt but I think the shock of it, that shock of my parents suddenly turning on me because of my behavior sent a strong and clear message.

Now I know some people prefer to use a time out system or something that rewards the good and ignores the bad or whatever and I am fine with that. I really don't care how other people choose to discipline their kids, I think its completely up to them. What I don't like is how people have suddenly decided that it is some sort of crime to spank your kids and if there is any sign of it you should be reported to the authorities. Sure no kid should be excessively beaten and if for some reason they are warranting a spanking on a regular basis then things are out of hand. But my parents spanked me simply to keep me on the straight and narrow and I believe it worked very well. Therefore I plan to spank my kids if and when I have some if they behave in a way that I feel warrants it.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this. How did your parents discipline you? was it affective? why or why not? how do you plan to discipline your kids and if its different from how your parents did it why?

Quote Me...

I like to read business books and usually they include a lot of quotes from famous historical people and big business people. A lot of times the quotes are really like a common sense statement that isn't really much of a quote. Sometimes I'll read a quote and I can't help but think "man, I wish I came up with that". Here are some quotes I really like and wish I could take credit for them.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge... " - Albert Einstein

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do."
-Confucius

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." - John F. Kennedy

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" - Patrick Henry

"They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!" - William Wallace

These are just a couple quotes I like, and I think it would be cool if I had said them. Do you have any particular quotes that maybe inspire you or are important to you for any reason? Please feel free to share them. Also, is there anything you frequently say or have said that you think people should quote you on? Let me know and I'll see if I can find a way to use your quote and I'll give you credit for it.

Here's one of mine, (hopefully it hasn't been said before)
"Don't treat some one how you want to be treated, treat them how he/she wants to be treated"
or maybe this one:
"Tolerating poor customer service as a customer is an encouragement for that service to continue poorly."

Have fun with this, I'm sure you all have some great stuff to say.