Pizza delivery

A college pizza delivery boy arrived at the house of Mr.Smith. He delivered the pizza to his trailer. After giving it to him, Mr. Smith asked: "What is the usual tip?"

"Well," replied the youth, "this is my first trip here, but the other guys say if I get a quarter out of you, I'll be doing great."

"Is that so?" snorted Mr. Smith. "Well, just to show them how wrong they are, here's five dollars."

"Thanks," replied the youth, "I'll put this in my school fund."

"What are you studying in school?" asked Larry.

The lad smiled and said: "Applied psychology."

The Programmer and the Princess..

A programmer was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."

The programmer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do anything you want." Again the programmer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The programmer said, "Look, I'm a programmer. I don't have time for a girlfriend -- but a talking frog, now that's cool."

Wrong Flowers

A new business was opening and one of the owner's friends wanted to send him flowers for the occasion.

They arrived at the new business site and the owner read the card,.... "Rest in Peace."

The owner was angry and called the florist to complain.

After he had told the florist of the obvious mistake and how angry he was, the florist replied,

"Sir, I'm really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry, you should imagine this: somewhere, there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying,... 'Congratulations on your new location!'"

Tonic for the Mind - 9

Detachment is renouncing selfishness

in thought and action thus purifying the

mind. Engrossed in the fulfillment of a

task, there is evenness of mind. This is

sanctification of work.

- Dr Charles Chow Hoi Hee

Thought for the day (26-02-2008)

Be carefull of your Thoughts, for your thoughts become your Words

Be carefull of your words, for your words become your Actions

Be carefull of your actions, for your actions become your Habits

Be carefull of your habits, for your habits become your Character

Be carefull of your character, for your character become your Destiny.

Mysterious Beginnings

As any gardener knows, the bulbs that contain the beautiful flowers of spring and summer—daffodils, irises, tulips, gladiolas—cannot bloom until they have endured a period of cold. Held in the dark earth during the frigid winter months, they undergo internal adjustments and changes invisible to our eyes. Like babies gestating in the lightless, watery wombs of their mothers, they are fully engaged in the process of preparing to be born. So many of the greatest mysteries of life begin this way, with a powerful urge for growth enclosed in a small, dark space.

We humans have a tendency to yearn for the light, for the coming of spring, and for the more visible phase of growth that all things express in coming to be. In our love for what we can see with our eyes we sometimes lose patience for, and interest in, the world of darkness that nurtures and protects the seeds, bulbs, and babies of the world for such an important part of their life cycles. It is a perilous and mysterious phase of growth, and one that we have little control over, and perhaps that is why we don't celebrate it with quite the same passion as we do the lighter and brighter phases of life. Nevertheless, we ourselves endure similar periods of developing in the darkness throughout our lives.

Meditating on the image of a bulb, a seed, or an embryo, can bring us into alignment with the side of our own natures that is like the earth in winter—seemingly asleep but busily attending to details of growth that create the pattern for the children, flowers, and creative expressions to come. Touching down on this place in ourselves, we may feel at once peaceful and activated, utterly still and yet fully creative, quietly in tune with the dark and mysterious beginnings of life.

Surprising Uses for Salt

Mankind has been using salt for many centuries, in the course of which we've amassed many uses (some speculate thousands) for this amazing substance -- uses that go far beyond mere seasoning. Here are a few of the more practical ones:

• Pick up a dropped egg. If an egg breaks on the kitchen floor, sprinkle salt on the mess and leave it there for 20 minutes. You'll be able to wipe it right up.

• Soothe a bee sting. Wet the sting right away, then cover it with salt.

• Eliminate a grease fire. Pour salt on top to smother it. (Never use water on a grease fire.)

• Clean up oven spills. If food boils over onto the oven floor, sprinkle salt on top to stop smoke and odor from forming. When the oven is cool, it'll be easy to brush away the spot.

• Set color. If a dye may run, soak the garment for an hour in 1/2 gallon of water to which you've added 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup salt. If rinse water shows color, repeat. This is good for a single-colored fabric or madras. If the item is multicolored, dry-clean it. (Although American-made fabrics are unlikely to run, fabrics from abroad are sometimes iffy.)

• Kill poison ivy. Add three pounds of salt to a gallon of soapy water. Spray it onto leaves and stems.

• Make cream whip more easily and egg whites whip faster and higher. Add a pinch of salt.

• Test for rotten eggs. Put an egg in a cup of water to which you've added two teaspoons of salt. A fresh egg will sink, but one that's iffy will float.

• Clean the brown spots (from starch) off a non-stick soleplate (the bottom of your iron). Sprinkle salt on a sheet of waxed paper, slide the iron across it, then rub lightly with silver polish.

• Repel fleas. Wash the doghouse with it.

• Kill grass growing in cracks in the cement or between patio stones. Sprinkle salt on the grass and pour very hot water over it. Or sprinkle coarse salt on the grass, let stand all day or overnight, then pour hot tap water over it.

• Clean a glass coffee pot. Fill it with a quarter-cup of table salt and a dozen ice cubes. Swish the mixture around, let it sit for half an hour, fill it with cold water and rinse.

• Halt the mountain of suds from an overflowing washing machine. Sprinkle salt on the top.

• Clean artificial flowers. Put them in a bag of salt and shake the bag. Take a look at the color of the salt and you'll see what you've accomplished.

• Keep windows frost-free. Dip a sponge into salt water and rub it on windows, and they won't frost up even when the mercury dips below 32 degrees; for the same effect on your car's windshield, put salt in a little bag made of cheesecloth, moisten it slightly and rub it on.

• Clean tarnished copper.Fill a 16-ounce spray bottle with hot white vinegar and three tablespoons of salt. Spray it onto the copper, let it sit briefly, then rub clean. (Don't do this to lacquered copper.)

• Keep radishes safe in the garden. Salt worms (cutworms) will be repelled if you sprinkle seeds with table salt, then cover with dirt.

• Clean coffee and tea stains from china cups. Rub them with salt.

• Keep potatoes and apples from turning brown once they're sliced. Put them in salted cold water.

• Clean a cutting board. Cover it with bleach and salt, scrub it with a stiff brush, then rinse with very hot water and wipe with a clean cloth. Repeat with each