patrick.net

gabbar says

Live life now. My posts about travel are not intended as a brag. I kind of hope it's motivation. Hike up a mountain to a lake and have some beer in Montana with a buddy you see 1-2 times a year. Kids can have gatorade or beer if they want.. lol. If they're invited. Legit want to have beers with my kids if my time expires early. 16+ which I think is legal in IL at home and they don't drive obviously.

I like politics here and housing, but I don't discuss it anywhere else. We all have negative energy at times but I try to keep that out of my personal life with friends and family. This is the place where I bitch the most. I personally feel it's a positive. You need a place to vent and argue or tell good stories.

Like I said I love travel and I want to see anyone on this site go where they've always wanted. You won't regret it. Money is a thing, but you ain't taking it with when you're 6' under or burned to ashes. Just go.

Larry Ellison says you have to be different and Gael Monfils was not only different but more than tennis
(can't say that about any other tennis player)

Francine is back at Lowe's in Richmond Virginia

So, yeah, he's impressive. He does make me question if I'm doing everything I could with my life, if I'm thinking big enough. That said, I have no desire to be Elon Musk. I don't want to die on Mars. I'm perfectly happy on Earth. I'm not obsessed with building rockets or electric vehicles. I admire them as technological marvels. But he, he does make me say there's a guy who's following his most intense passions and he's following them publicly. Am I following my own passions as intensely as he is following his?” - Naval Ravikant

Patrick says

Many years back, we were at a church based pre-kindergarten school gym where a social event was going on with parents and students. My kid was playing with a toy. Another kid took it from his hands and started playing. My kid didn't react. Then, I saw a bearded man walking swiftly and purposefully towards us. He took the toy back from that kid and gave it back to my kid. I will never forget it. I was stunned, couldn't say anything. I assume he was that kid's dad.

That was the right thing for that dad to do.

Patrick says

That was the right thing for that dad to do.

Yes and he looked a bit like that dad who wet his pants with water to go pick up his daughter who had similar accident.

"I go sit at a restaurant by myself and realize that, man that's pretty enjoyable to do. … I tell people all the time I used to see guys sitting at a bar by themselves, or just sitting by themselves eating, and grabbing a little meal. And I'm like, 'Man, I feel so bad for that guy.' You always want to go join them. And now I realize that dude was in heaven. And not to say - that's obviously not what I want. I'd rather be at home sitting at the dinner table with my kids and hearing what the hell they were talking about all day. But if you have to do it, then you might as well take advantage of it." - Joe Flacco, Cincinnati Bengals

Patrick says

That was the right thing for that dad to do.

Unless the kid thought your wet pants were mocking her.

"I am never close to giving up. I love the feeling of working hard and accomplishing a goal.” - Natalie Grabow, Finished Ironman World Championship at 80 years, October 24, 2025

Brave AI:

On 10 June 1990, British Airways Flight 5390, en route from Birmingham to Málaga, Spain, experienced a catastrophic event when the captain’s side cockpit windscreen blew out due to improperly installed, incorrectly sized screws, causing explosive decompression at an altitude of approximately 17,300 feet.

The sudden pressure differential violently sucked Captain Tim Lancaster halfway out of the cockpit, with his body partially exposed to the extreme conditions of high-speed winds and sub-zero temperatures, while his legs remained trapped under the control column.

In a remarkable display of teamwork and composure, the first officer, Alastair Atchison, managed the aircraft alone while two flight attendants, Nigel Ogden and Simon Rogers, held onto Lancaster’s legs to prevent him from being completely ejected, a situation that lasted for about 20 minutes.

Despite suffering severe injuries including frostbite, fractures, and shock, Lancaster survived and made a full recovery, returning to flying just five months later, while the aircraft made a successful emergency landing in Southampton.

A Louisiana factory chief proved to be a real-life Santa Claus — giving each of his 540 full-time employees six-figure bonus checks totaling $240 million.

The generous gesture came after the benevolent boss sold the company for $1.7 billion.

Graham Walker, the now-former CEO of Fibrebond, told The Wall Street Journal that he would not agree to sell his company if prospective buyer Eaton did not earmark 15% of the proceeds for its employees — even though none of them owned stock.

The deal, which was completed earlier this year when Eaton acquired Fibrebond, triggered payouts to 540 full-time workers, averaging about $443,000 per worker spread over five years.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/12/25/business/louisiana-boss-hands-workers-240m-in-bonuses-after-selling-his-company-for-1-7b/

gabbar says

A Louisiana factory chief proved to be a real-life Santa Claus — giving each of his 540 full-time employees six-figure bonus checks totaling $240 million.

The generous gesture came after the benevolent boss sold the company for $1.7 billion.

Graham Walker, the now-former CEO of Fibrebond, told The Wall Street Journal that he would not agree to sell his company if prospective buyer Eaton did not earmark 15% of the proceeds for its employees — even though none of them owned stock.

The deal, which was completed earlier this year when Eaton acquired Fibrebond, triggered payouts to 540 full-time workers, averaging about $443,000 per worker spread over five years.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/12/25/business/louisiana-boss-hands-workers-240m-in-bonuses-after-selling-his-company-for-1-7b/

$10 sez the payouts are conditioned upon them staying employed by the company. A company that will ship their jobs overseas pronto.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/the-meaning-of-is-tuesday-february/comment/209282613

It’s sometimes easy to think we’re not making much of a difference. We wake up, get the family going, we go to work, maybe help a friend, just our normal routine. The truth is most of life is ordinary. We should never think though, our everyday actions don’t make a difference. Everything we do matters, not just the big things, but the small everyday acts we do. A smile, a kind word, a phone call to a friend that’s struggling, these are the things that have the greatest impact on others around us. In Mathew 10:42 Jesus said “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of my disciples, will be rewarded”. This meaning even a small act of kindness done will be noticed and rewarded.

When you go the extra mile at work, even something that goes unnoticed, your hard work, faithfulness, dedication, and the sacrifice you make, is noticed by God. Nothing we do goes unnoticed by him. These moments may seem ordinary but these are the things that have the biggest impact on the people we touch.

I often think of after my mother had passed. I didn’t miss the big things she did, it was all the small things. Every morning we would sit, have coffee and just talk. I missed that the most. I missed her encouraging words helping me to move forward, her positive message telling me I could succeed. I never realized that those small ordinary moments were the things that would one day mean the most to me. We should always be aware that it’s these small things we do everyday that have the greatest impact on the people around us. My mother passed away 33 years ago, more than 1/2 my life, and I still grieve the loss. This shows the impact her kindness had on my life and that grief has no timeline.

We all have many more ordinary days than miraculous ones, but the ordinary days do have purpose, they create the space for God to work and make those miraculous days in our life and those around us.

In the not too distant past I would wake and think maybe today things will start to change. We’ve all been through so much over these past 6 years. One positive thing we can do for those that have helped us is let them know, acknowledge it. thank them. People may never know the impact they had on you if you don’t acknowledge it. Let them know the positive impact they made on you.

I have plowed snow for 40 years. Over those years I have seen the stress caused by bad weather, people afraid they will be left. When I tell them that I will always be there to help them, and that before you know it the weather will warm. The perennials planted around their house will begin to pop and flower again, I feel their stress melting away.

As greedy and as selfish as man can be the earth pays him no attention. In the spring the earth will again tilt back on her axis and begin to warm. Like the earth life has seasons. There are seasons of growth, there are seasons of harvest. The winter is considered a season to connect with our inner self, and with our guardian angels, a time to awaken our spiritual consciousness.

Give the people around you a call. Let them know you will be there for them if they need you. Don’t let people think they are alone. Share the gifts that God has given to you. It’s those small things we do that can have the greatest impact on those around us. J.Goodrich