December Decorator of the Month

03 November 2019, 10:42 PM

A quote and a story ...

Here's the contest:

Provide a quote that is significant to you and tell a story that conveys the quote's significance to you. The quote can be from any source (e.g., books, movies, lyrics, scriptures, allegories, conversations/correspondence with any one you know, the Internet, even your own writing/utterances). As subjective as it is, let's just say I will be the judge and the most interesting quote with the most interesting story wins.

06 November 2019, 12:22 AM

BeeLady

Excluding myself from the contest but, in part, to bump this....

I never tire of the wisdom of Anne Frank.

“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

08 November 2019, 12:56 PM

big al

I've carried a couple of quotes around with me for a long time.

Let me set the scene. I was a young engineer and in 1972 was sent on my first plant start-up, a coal preparation plant in Appalachia, Virginia. There, I ended up working with two United Mine Workers electricians and became friendly with them. I used to drink with them at a local fraternal club because at that time, Virginia bars had very restricted drinking hours. One night, the older of the two electricians, who I've referred to many times since as "The Old Electrician" said to me, "Son, in this business, there are two things you need to remember. 1) I was looking for a job when I found this one. and 2) F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke."

I've carried those two quotes with me for many years since and found them invaluable in negotiating my way through the world. I've lost track of the number of times I've shared them with others.

Big Al

08 November 2019, 02:28 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by big al: 1) I was looking for a job when I found this one. and 2) F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke."
Big Al

Those were favorite expressions of the old (he retired one year after I started) ex-military electrician I trained under. I have found them useful in the past.

In the mid '90's I bought a fast street bike and would ride up in the canyons on weekends. I hooked up with a group of riders some 20 years younger than I was at the time, and they graciously let me ride with them even though I wasn't nearly as fast as they were.

On one trip up Angeles Crest Highway I had lost sight of the pack and was pushing my limits to try to catch up. I was doing OK until I came to a now famous hairpin called "squid's leap," and the off-camber, decreasing radius turn proved to be more than I could handle. I dropped the bike and skidded to the shoulder; the bike skidding just ahead of me and stopping just before the steep drop off that had claimed more than one biker just that year.

At the road racing school I attended right after I got the bike they taught us that if you find yourself skidding along the pavement after a fall it's important to count to ten after you stop sliding before you try to get up. Many guys try to get up to soon and start cartwheeling all over the place rather than just sliding to a stop. I remembered this and counted to ten and then counted again.

I was probably still counting when the pack came back to figure out what happened to me. They got me up (I was fine - the safety gear did it's job. The bike was a mess but that is another story) and asked me what happened. I told them I was trying to catch up because I didn't want to hold them up. The leader of the pack got very angry:

"Dude! RIDE YOUR OWN BIKE!"

"You are not me and your bike is not my bike. Don't let the way we ride dictate how you ride! You'll kill yourself and that would suck!"

That kid gave me the best advice of my life. Don't overly concern yourself with what others think, don't let others dictate the terms of your happiness. Don't let others stress you or pressure you in to doing something you don't want to do.

"Ride your own bike."

It's a lot harder to do than it sounds.

08 November 2019, 03:10 PM

ShiroKuro

quote:
1) I was looking for a job when I found this one

Ok, sincere question: what does this mean? Is it supposed to be a modern twist on "seek and ye shall find"? Sorry, sometimes I'm super clueless

quote:
Ride your own bike

I like this one a lot! It's short enough that you can remind yourself of it, but applicable to so many situations!

08 November 2019, 03:12 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
quote:
1) I was looking for a job when I found this one

Ok, sincere question: what does this mean? Is it supposed to be a modern twist on "seek and ye shall find"?

It means "If you want me to work for you then you need to treat me better than you are now."

08 November 2019, 03:37 PM

ShiroKuro

quote:
It means "If you want me to work for you then you need to treat me better than you are now."

Thanks! Wow, I would have never arrived at that interpretation! Well, if there was some context (a boss being a jerk to a supervisee) I might have.

English is hard

08 November 2019, 04:29 PM

Mikhailoh

quote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
quote:
Originally posted by big al: 1) I was looking for a job when I found this one. and 2) F*ck 'em if they can't take a joke."
Big Al

Those were favorite expressions of the old (he retired one year after I started) ex-military electrician I trained under. I have found them useful in the past.

In the mid '90's I bought a fast street bike and would ride up in the canyons on weekends. I hooked up with a group of riders some 20 years younger than I was at the time, and they graciously let me ride with them even though I wasn't nearly as fast as they were.

On one trip up Angeles Crest Highway I had lost sight of the pack and was pushing my limits to try to catch up. I was doing OK until I came to a now famous hairpin called "squid's leap," and the off-camber, decreasing radius turn proved to be more than I could handle. I dropped the bike and skidded to the shoulder; the bike skidding just ahead of me and stopping just before the steep drop off that had claimed more than one biker just that year.

At the road racing school I attended right after I got the bike they taught us that if you find yourself skidding along the pavement after a fall it's important to count to ten after you stop sliding before you try to get up. Many guys try to get up to soon and start cartwheeling all over the place rather than just sliding to a stop. I remembered this and counted to ten and then counted again.

I was probably still counting when the pack came back to figure out what happened to me. They got me up (I was fine - the safety gear did it's job. The bike was a mess but that is another story) and asked me what happened. I told them I was trying to catch up because I didn't want to hold them up. The leader of the pack got very angry:

"Dude! RIDE YOUR OWN BIKE!"

"You are not me and your bike is not my bike. Don't let the way we ride dictate how you ride! You'll kill yourself and that would suck!"

That kid gave me the best advice of my life. Don't overly concern yourself with what others think, don't let others dictate the terms of your happiness. Don't let others stress you or pressure you in to doing something you don't want to do.

"Ride your own bike."

It's a lot harder to do than it sounds.

I hate, hate, hate getting good advice from those younger than I unless they are children. It just feels like obsolescence.

08 November 2019, 08:44 PM

BeeLady

I have a laminated copy of this one that I typed 40 years ago...It was in my wallet for years..

It reminds me to look back over life with no regret..

From Dickens' "Great Expectations"

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

08 November 2019, 09:30 PM

Daniel

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
quote:
It means "If you want me to work for you then you need to treat me better than you are now."

Thanks! Wow, I would have never arrived at that interpretation! Well, if there was some context (a boss being a jerk to a supervisee) I might have.

English is hard

09 November 2019, 10:19 PM

Dan

A slightly different nuance on "I was looking for a job when I found this one"

"Everyone gets one vote"

Meaning every employee has a vote they can exercise at any time, namely to vote with their feet and quit.

I found over the years that it was good to remember I had a vote (and I exercised it a few times as well). Remembering you have a vote will keep you from letting your job/boss take total control of your life.

11 November 2019, 12:52 PM

Jack Frost

[QUOTE]Sorry, sometimes I'm super clueless

[QUOTE]

I’ll put out this quote because....yup.

Jf

11 November 2019, 03:29 PM

pianojuggler

I am not making this up. My high school chemistry teacher wrote in my yearbook "Work harder and expect less".

Of course, I have not exactly lived by these words. Instead I have molded most of my adult life around the concept of what I call "creative laziness". That is, trying to assess what doesn't actually need to be done and not doing it. And then, when something does actually need to be done, doing it in the way that requires the minimum effort. I got good at computer programming because I am bad at math. In my working life, if I have to do the same thing more than three times, I will stop and look for a shortcut or something to make it easier.

I have held close to my heart the second half of Mr. Powell's advice. I have kept my expectations low.

11 November 2019, 03:46 PM

pianojuggler

I read this on a page-a-day calendar. I tore it off and tacked it up over my desk where it stayed for several years:

"Не кричи о себе. Лучше пусть другие о тебе хоть тихо скажут."

I have also applied this throughout my career. I have seen several shameless self-promoters crash 'n' burn. I have seen one or two "succeed", at least by their definition of "success" which is not mine.

I'll try to write up an actual story about how this has changed my life.

12 November 2019, 10:40 PM

Steve Miller

quote:
Originally posted by Dan:
A slightly different nuance on "I was looking for a job when I found this one"

"Everyone gets one vote"

Meaning every employee has a vote they can exercise at any time, namely to vote with their feet and quit.

I found over the years that it was good to remember I had a vote (and I exercised it a few times as well). Remembering you have a vote will keep you from letting your job/boss take total control of your life.

At a very low point in my life I took a job I didn’t like. I had payments, I had kids, and I did what needed to be done.

My boss was a gold plated jackass I had worked alongside at another firm in another time. He had managed to convince some wealthy guys that he had the next big thing. He didn’t, and the company never made anything more than some $80m worth of scrap. To his credit he did teach me how to
tape drywall so there is that.

He thought effective management consisted of yelling at me. As soon as he would start I’d invite him to walk with me. Where are we going? To get my toolbox. I’m out of here.

He never learned, this guy. I finally left and the company went bankrupt shortly thereafter. The investors lost some $100 mil. My jackass boss kept enough money aside to open up a boat dealership in Havasu which went bankrupt in a year.

I’d look up what happened to him but I really don’t care.