How do I change things?
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." That's a powerful statement if you contemplate it enough to understand it.
See this quote and more at
Quotable Quotes.
Do things really change or does, through choice and hard work, our view of things change? For the past few years I've said "You can choose how you react to things." and "Things happen. Period. It's up to you to decide how to react. You CAN choose!"
Sometimes it's incredibly easy to change how things look. The driver of a New Beetle looked at the completely smashed rear end of his car and decided it represented an opportunity that saved his life, at that moment and in the future. Part of his reaction included very real changes in how he drove with respect to vehicles not only in front of him but behind, left and right as well. He tried to, borrowing a phrase from a Star Trek movie, stop thinking in only two dimensions.
Other times, it's incredibly difficult to stay on track much less change a personal view of the world. How can you change your view when you hear that someone has just taken their own life? There is no second chance or alternate view that can make events appear different. It may be possible to be more supportive and involved in the future of other lives but it's also not possible to be everywhere and everything to everyone. Mistakes happen, even when you don't make any.
I have to change how I view myself in order to change how I see and interact with others.
Sometimes it sucks being only human.
Numb3rs
A new TV show started in January. Here's a quote from the
site "Inspired by actual events, NUMB3RS depicts how the confluence of police work and mathematics provides unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions." Something like "you can use numbers to figure out where the killer lives" is the suggestion in the previews.
So I thought if I saw a certain number all the time... is there a way to use that information to predict an event? Hence the previous post.
Well, I really think it's more along the lines of what you pay attention to. I never saw many Passats on the road until I drove one. Maybe it's like that with the number 57.
Feb 26, 2005 00:57 or How I named my Blog
I tried to create a free email account once but my desired name was already taken. So the system made a suggestion by adding "57" to the end. I took it because I recognized something. The result rhymed. That started it.
Ever since then I've noticed a flood of "fifty seven" or some odd combination of 5 and 7 showing up. Everywhere, anywhere. Yesterday, I was driving to work past the 5700 block along bus route 57 and noticed the last four digits of a phone number on a sign: 0057. Just after that, I merged onto the highway and saw "next exit #5, HWY 574". Minutes later I was traveling south on I-275. Today, I looked at a license plate that began with "Q57". These are only a few of the most recent examples of what happens all the time.
Sometimes it takes a small effort to find the combination. See a 5 and find the 7 (or vice-versa). Take the year 2005 as an example. Can you find the 7? (2+0+0+5 = 7) Too odd or too obvious? Maybe. However, Sometimes the combination finds me. I was born in 1957. The federal information number for the county I was born in is 0057. I graduated from high school in 1975.
This stuff is real and I could easily write fifty seven more examples but I don't have the time. If I were clever, and had the time, I'd notice something odd about this post too. Like it has 5 sentences in the first paragraph followed by 7 in the second paragraph.
I chose this moment to create this post because it's another 57 year (2005, see above) and today is the 57th day of the year. It's also the 57th minute of the day.
Cheeky? Perhaps but here's one more:
My first name is made up of 5 characters and my middle name 7. (If you know me you can count for yourself)
Anyway, that's where the name came from.
