--THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING MORE TO BE RID OF

…It’s so sunny I’m having to duck down as I write this.  Better that than be frozen on the east coast, so I’m not complaining by any stretch.  Even my dog has moved into the few shady spots on my office floor.

…I’ve happily had this little ditty stuck in my head all day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqh-ucVG510

…I don’t know why, year after year, I keep thinking The Oscars are going to be anything other than what they are, which is a mostly bland affair with winners thanking everyone on the planet.  Neil Patrick Harris was surprisingly not funny or entertaining, and there were lots of odd moments and numbers, though John Legend and Common doing “Glory” was a standout, as was Lady Gaga belting out vintage Julie Andrews.  Also, Tim McGraw’s touching tribute to Glen Campbell nearly had me in tears.  I’m going to listen to that song—“I’m Not Going To Miss You”--in a few minutes.

…Here are some things I like to kick of the week”

“It’s the gestures that make a girl feel special.” Sara Lippmann

“We tend to make courage too dramatic.  Courage is often doing something simple, unpleasant, or boring again and again until we get it down pat. People who are physically challenged and who have the determination to get around their handicaps are great examples because their courage makes them test their limits every day.”   Dave Thomas

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou

“The manner in which it is given is worth more than the gift.” Pierre Corneille

 “There’s nothing like holding something that is alive. Most people don’t know this but life is 

transferable through the touch of live entities. This is why petting zoos exist. It is why people run their fingers over tree bark. It is why people hold hands and why people have sex. When you do these things you are more alive than usual.” Tim Steele

“A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.”  Marcus Annaeus Seneca

“I believe the recipe for happiness to be just enough money to pay the monthly bills you acquire, a little surplus to give you confidence, a little too much work each day, enthusiasm for your work, a substantial share of good health, a couple of real friends and a wife and children to share life's beauty with you.”

 J. Kenfield Morley

“It seems clear even in these years of squalid degradation that having risked death for the sake of honor is better than having risked dishonor for the sake of life.” Mark Helprin

“Genuine security arises from actual, first-hand knowledge that one is both capable and worthy of achieving happiness (through conscious, responsible action) and, once having attained it, that he deserves it.”  Michael J. Hurd

"No home is complete without affection. You can have all the Picassos in the world or walls made of gold, but without affection it's nothing." Claudio Luti

“Whatever job I'm doing I try to do the best I can with it and enjoy it for what it is and what it entails. I passed the time in the shoe shop by trying to be the best damn shoe salesman in the whole of New
Jersey.  The fact that I didn't succeed and ended up washing the coffee cups in the kitchen didn't really matter. I just tried to get those coffee cups the cleanest they'd ever been. Playing in the band was another job.  The only difference was, I was finally doing the one thing that I had any aptitude for.” -- Jon Bon Jovi

“The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” Ray Bradbury