Two Bits of Advice and a Joke

(Note: Still waiting on the laundry...)

Today I was exposed to two great pieces of advice, and one pretty funny (at least to me) joke. 

The first piece of advice came from Phil Plait, who wrote in a Slate article: "Surround yourself with smart, creative, funny people. They make the world better." Indeed they do, so a round of applause to all the smart, creative, funny people I've known in my life. I hope you know who you are. 

The second piece of advice came from a friend's mother-in-law (actual mother? mother of a friend? mother of a neighbor? anyway...), who argues that one must separate "problems" from "expenditures" -- i.e., if a "problem" can be solved by spending money, it's not a problem it's an expenditure. You spend the money and it's solved. It's actually great advice, especially for travel. I used to sweat what I took a whole lot when I traveled, but since the GCW Tour started I've realized that anything you forget can just be replaced in the course of the trip. It takes a lot of the pressure off (which may, in part, be why it's less than twelve hours 'til I have to leave for the airport and I haven't packed anything yet.) So ask yourself, is it a problem or an expenditure? 

Last up, the joke. This came from the tattoo parlor mentioned in my prior post. It actually turned out to be a pretty big place, with lots of people doing their thing. One of those things was signing a gigantic card which someone had made for one of the employee's mom, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Someone had inserted the following into the card:

I don't know why, but this just cracked me up.