 Editorials
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7-2-02
Don't Fish in Lightning Storms
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Recently I had a reason to reflect on good luck (or
the lack of). You see, last Saturday I was driving home
from work and talking to my buddy Jerry on the cell
phone. I know, I know. You shouldn't talk on a cell
phone when driving..Blah, blah, blah! Anyway, I look
over to my right and see about seven Sheriff's department
cruisers parked along the freeway (I-75) and behind
them was parked a Television News van. I see the deputies
along the banks of the Tampa Canal standing there looking
down at what appeared to be a person prone on the ground.
Well, the next day I read in the paper that this poor
guy was fishing and was surprised by the sudden thunderstorm
that came rolling in. He was heading for his bicycle
to make a hasty retreat out of there when...BAM! He
was hit and killed by a bolt of lightning. All of which
caused me to start thinking about LUCK.
This poor guy, whom I gather from the story and other
people who knew of him, was a bit down on his luck.
Which is one of the reasons he was on a bicycle in the
first place. I was thinking, this poor guy has a string
of bad luck through life and then he goes fishing and
WHAMMO! -- A bolt of lightning strikes. Now the more
I reflect on it I start to wonder... Do we make our
own luck?
Sure we do. Or at least we have a certain degree of
involvement in it. I mean, we have had severe thunderstorms
with lightning (Tampa IS the lightening capitol of the
US) every afternoon for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Surely,
this guy realized it. Otherwise, he wouldn't be trying
to haul it outta there when the storm came up. So my
point is, that we all have an active hand in our own
luck/destiny in one way or the other. It's kind of like
a boat in that you can steer it around obstacles. The
real secret is recognizing the obstacles in time. Sometimes
we can't see the forest for the trees. Even when all
of our friends can see the obvious path that we should
take for our own well being and give us advice, we still
don't follow the advice even though we get the same
advice from different people over and over again. I
am guilty of it too.
So, the moral of the story is..."Don't fish in
lightning storms" and try to step back from your
problems and take a look at them from a different perspective.
You may be surprised to find out what you see. Sometimes
bad luck is a blessing in disguise. Sometimes things
could have turned out much worse than they did and it
is just an opportunity to change directions for the
better.
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7-2-02
A Lesson in Procedures -
Okay, enough of the belly button lint! The new site
is up and some things from the old site are gone and
some will return. By now most of you have realized that
you must sign up for the site. Many people have not
returned in a while and hopefully they will get an email
from Dan prompting them to do so. The good news is that
lots of people are coming back and signing up. Unfortunately
there are those of you out there who just can't seem
to follow instructions (I'm starting to sound like Mr.
Mehfoud).
There are two problems that seem to keep cropping up.
The first one is that some people want to deviate from
the prescribed format we picked for the user names.
This format is picked for a reason. The reason is that
it allows the search feature to find you and for people
to recognize who you are by your user name. Duh! Dan
has been real hesitant to call people on this but, I
don't mind being the bad guy. I've learned it's okay
to do this from being a Sgt. for so long in the Marines.
Somebody has to do it. Besides, you are all my friends
or potential friends and if your friends can't tell
what you are doing wrong then who can? Besides, It's
our website and we get to make the rules! NYAH! NYAH!
NYAH! (Just kidding!)
But, here is what is going to have to happen. YOU MUST
USE THIS FORMAT FOR YOUR USER NAME: (First name by which
people knew you)(Last Name in High School)(Last two
digits of your Class year). EXAMPLE: JackAdkins73 No
made up screennames. No married names. No full class
year etc.
If you have failed to do this one of two things will
eventually happen. Dan will either fix it for you, or
he will delete your user name and email you that you
will have to sign up all over again. I suspect it most
likely will be that he will fix it as it will be easier
on him in the long run. So, please read the instructions
carefully.
Now the second problem..(I told you there was a second
problem didn't I?) After people are signing up, they
are not activating their account by clicking on the
SECOND link in their confirmation email. YOU MUST DO
THIS TO ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT. Some people are just
deleting the email without really reading it and then
are not able to activate their account. Once again,
this means Dan or I will have to do it for you. Please
activate your accounts after signing up by clicking
on the SECOND link in the confirming email you will
receive after you sign up..
Last but not least. Several people have graciously
asked about how much it is costing to keep this site
up and what can they do to contribute to the cost of
maintaining the site. First of all, this is a NON PROFIT
SITE. However, since it also belongs to you the members,
you are allowed to contribute to the cost of maintaining
it's presence on the web. If you feel generous and would
like to help, email Dan Zodun and he will supply you
with the info on where to send any baubles and beads
or stocks and bonds etc.
I'm done for this time. Great job on those reunions
and I am glad to see the site is helping. Please continue
to use it. That's what it is here for.
Luv ya...Mean it
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