General A-K

Published Sunday, May 30, 2010 LOWELL, Mass. - Roger Goodell sent 40 letters to the NFL office in New York City looking for a job in 1981. Forty rejections came back. But more letters to NFL headquarters followed, until one day a weary league executive invited him to "stop by when you're in the neighborhood." "I told him I was in the neighborhood," recalled Goodell, who then drove all night from Pittsburgh to New York City to apply for what was supposed to be a three-month internship. Twenty-five years later, Goodell was appointed to his dream job: commissioner of the National Football League.

-- Author unknown Last year I watched Billy Graham being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on television. Oprah told him that in her childhood home, she use to watch him preach on a little black and white TV while sitting on a linoleum floor. She went on to the tell viewers that, in his lifetime, Billy has preached to twenty-million people around the world, not to mention the countless numbers who have heard him whenever his crusades are broadcast. When she asked if he got nervous before facing a crowd, Billy replied humbly, "No, I don't get nervous before crowds, but I did today before I was going to meet with you." Oprah's show is broadcast to twenty-million people every day. She is comfortable with famous stars and celebrities but seemed in awe of Dr. Billy Graham.

Well worth the read... Merry Christmas! I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!" My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

ÔÇ¿By Jeff Guidry Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again... Freedom and I have been together 11 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings one of them broken in four places. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery. She's my baby. When Freedom came in she could not stand. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town,ÔÇ¿ no noses were frozen, no snow fluttered down,ÔÇ¿ no children in flannels were tucked into bed,ÔÇ¿ they all wore shorty pajamas instead. To find wreaths of holly, 'twas not very hard,ÔÇ¿ for holly trees grew in every back yard.ÔÇ¿ In front of the houses, Dads and Moms wereÔÇ¿ adorning the bushes and coconut palms. The sleeping kiddies were dreaming in glee, ÔÇ¿hoping to find water skis under the tree. ÔÇ¿They all knew that Santa was well on his way,ÔÇ¿ in a Mercedes-Benz, instead of a sleigh. And soon he arrived and started to work, ÔÇ¿he hadn't a second to linger or shirk. ÔÇ¿He whizzed up the highways and zoomed up the road,ÔÇ¿ in a S-L 300, delivering his loads. The tropical moon gave the city a glow,

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash with his best friend, Wylie Post, was probably the greatest political sage this country ever has known.

Enjoy some of Will's humorous observations on Life...

1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3.. There are two theories to arguing with a woman... Neither works.

4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

-- Author unknown In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there, at night. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay." The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say "John 3:16" and they will let you in."

— Author unknown 1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls. 2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare. …

-- By David G. Stratman From his book "We Can Change the World" ÔÇ¿It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War I. German, British, and French soldiers, already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front (a crime punishable by death in times of war). German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."

-- Author Unknown When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."