Free Compliment Server

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by loco gringo

Wisdom, right here, folks. Pure wisdom.

Bumper stickers should be issued.

...and here I was certain there was a C in there somewhere, making it a Dm7.

Hmmmm, better luck next time, I suppose (or is it try, try, again).

Tony

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by mc1

Actually, science has proven there are 3.5 truths. Unfortunately, only 0.75 are available to human consciousness. Which, if you think about it, is more than enough.

The silent ones. The vocal minority. The unknown posters. So glad you brought them up, because their voice is clearly the loudest, if you listen really hard.

And what kind of person has found the truth but won't tell anyone? Who would do that? The answer, my friend, is all of us.

So weird. In fact, so weird it must be true. It only makes sense.

You mention you are glad others aren't like you. That is an evolved state, for sure. I like you, otherwise why would I be here?

The truth is over there, sadly, in a heap. It's our job to sort out the Glennwillows and the tbeltrans and extricate and exult them.

Tony, you are my teacher.

Your wisdom raises still more questions, sir. If there are unknown posters, do they have poster children? I often here of "the poster child", so maybe they have finally been found. Here's hoping...

As for "the silent ones", COVID-19 is silent AND deadly. Does that trump (sorry, no politics) silent BUT deadly? Who won, wake me when it is over, etc.

It has been said by somebody somewhere that we all have the truth somewhere inside us. Unfortunately, it would take a rather painful surgery and long convalescence to dig it out. None of us seems willing to go through that, so the truth remains unknown.

I don't think I am really here, but am certainly glad you like me.

Tony

[Glennwillow]

I don't know how you do it, Morgan! You are one in a million. We have missed you here on the AGF, that's for sure!

- Glenn

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I don't know how you do it, Morgan! You are one in a million. We have missed you here on the AGF, that's for sure!

- Glenn

That is a good thing because if our collective aim was accurate, who knows what would have happened.

Tony

[cmd612]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I don't know how you do it, Morgan! You are one in a million. We have missed you here on the AGF, that's for sure!

- Glenn

What he said.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by M19

Morgan, you are a hoot of the FIRST degree!

Long Live mc1.

Like many of the great owls of yore, and of future yore, we live on through our gifts and interactions with others. Your unstinting, ungrudging, and borderline indulgent comment that you planted here will grow, thrive and spread like an invasive plant. It very well may end up in a pawn shop in New Delhi, given to a young child who can use it to boost her confidence and become a famous ornithologist or gifted luthier. On behalf of her, I'm much obliged, and will try and live a healthy lifestyle full of salads.

Say it forward, as I said before, and will probably say again.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by loco gringo

Wisdom, right here, folks. Pure wisdom.

Bumper stickers should be issued.

When I was a kid we had a bumper sticker on our car that read, "BUMPER STICKER". My dad thought that was funny.

I believe I mentioned this in the last free compliment thread, but it's worth repeating. Even more than bumper stickers, I like fortune cookie fortunes. One of my favorites was something like, "Many receive advice, but only the wise benefit from it".

I totally benefited from that erudite sentence, because it gave credit to both the giver and the receiver. Usually the giver tries to take all the kudos, but really the receiver has the bigger job. First they have to listen and comprehend, then they need to decide if the guidance is worthy, and then then need to come up with an action plan and implement the whole thing. Finally they are expected to be gracious and actually thank the giver!

So like holy-moly no wonder advice is given out willy-nilly but is rarely even listened to, much less followed.

I also think a good bumper sticker, or fortune, would simply be:
"Wisdom, right here folks",
so thank you for that.

Second best reply ever.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Their best isn't good enough - we are still alive. Lucky us!

Tony

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

...and here I was certain there was a C in there somewhere, making it a Dm7.

Hmmmm, better luck next time, I suppose (or is it try, try, again).

Tony

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Your wisdom raises still more questions, sir. If there are unknown posters, do they have poster children? I often here of "the poster child", so maybe they have finally been found. Here's hoping...

As for "the silent ones", COVID-19 is silent AND deadly. Does that trump (sorry, no politics) silent BUT deadly? Who won, wake me when it is over, etc.

It has been said by somebody somewhere that we all have the truth somewhere inside us. Unfortunately, it would take a rather painful surgery and long convalescence to dig it out. None of us seems willing to go through that, so the truth remains unknown.

I don't think I am really here, but am certainly glad you like me.

Tony

Tony, I have a little something for you. Besides you having more balance than Nik Wallenda, rest his soul, you are now an officially certified compliment giver, and can add the post-nominal initials CCG to your name.

I'm so happy for you. The student is now the master. The egg has hatched. The acorn is now the tree. The caterpillar is now the butterfly. The butterfly is now laying eggs on the oak.

Fly high my friend.

Also, for $79.99 I'll send you a tiny frame, let me know.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

I don't know how you do it, Morgan! You are one in a million. We have missed you here on the AGF, that's for sure!

- Glenn

Well, Glenn, I may be one in a million, but you are one in 7.8 billion.

Here's a thought. When someone says, "That's a once in a billion occurrence", and it's about a person, well, that's happening 7.8 times per day on average. And when someone says, "That's a once in a million occurrence", that happens 7,800 times per day on average.

And whenever someone says to me, "You're the best!", I always affectionately reply, "You're the second best." You didn't say, "You're the best", but it's what I heard. Probably because you have such a way with words.

Glenn, you're the second best.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by cmd612

What he said.

cmd612, this is my lucky day. I was just thinking about you.

Succinct but never terse. Taut but never tense. Giving credit where it is due. Willing to have your own strong beliefs, but also flexible enough to acknowledge the venn diagram of overlapping opinions, you are a willow amongst the weeds. Not that there's any reason for a weed to bow it's seedhead. It's just a saying.

We're all thinking it, so let's just yell it out our window: You're the third best! And out of 7.8 billion. What are the odds of that I wonder! Probably about the same as a comet hitting the Earth. Which, I suppose, is bound to happen eventually.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by mc1

Tony, I have a little something for you. Besides you having more balance than Nik Wallenda, rest his soul, you are now an officially certified compliment giver, and can add the post-nominal initials CCG to your name.

I'm so happy for you. The student is now the master. The egg has hatched. The acorn is now the tree. The caterpillar is now the butterfly. The butterfly is now laying eggs on the oak.

Fly high my friend.

Also, for $79.99 I'll send you a tiny frame, let me know.

I greatly appreciate your magnanimity in these trying times. If only I had $79.99, I would be able to fly high.

You said: The egg has hatched. The acorn is now the tree. The caterpillar is now the butterfly. The butterfly is now laying eggs on the oak.

...and I add ... and the horse has left the barn! We live in truly weird times.

Many thanks for kindest of considerations both now and somewhere in the next life...

Tony

[mc1]

Originally Posted by M19

Morgan, you are a hoot of the FIRST degree!

Long Live mc1.

Marty, I'm not exactly confessing to being a Wizard of Oz, and as George Benson would say, learning to compliment yourself is the greatest compliment of all, but I saw this picture yesterday and could relate. As Kim Mitchell said so poignantly in I am a Wild Party: “I know I’m a lot of feathers and not much chicken”.



Not too self-depreciate too much, although I’m pretty good at it. I take great pride in my ability to self-denigrate. So there’s some not so extravagant self-praise right there! Well done me!

And it the spirit of keeping it real, I’ll tell you a little story that happened a few weeks ago. It was right out of the Sunday funnies, maybe like Zits, if you are familiar with that one.

First, I must set the stage. In our kitchen there is currently an all-in-one computer. I was preparing some food, probably Thai or East Indian, because they are the best. I am father to a teenage son, who used to think his Dad was pretty cool, but has since discovered his old man isn’t cool at all, not one little bit. I had the forum up on the computer. It was after you had resurrected an AGF Magazine thread, and I was keeping an eye on either that thread or maybe the awesome Zager super thread, something humorous.

I chuckled out loud at a reply, and my wife asked, “Is that the AGF?”, and I replied, “Yea, they think I’m funny there”. Just then my seldom seen offspring was walking by, forced to forage for food despite the presence of his nugatory guardians. My wife replied, “Well, you are funny.” My son, who couldn’t bite his tongue, as he sauntered across the room, without a moment's pause, and with a certain not quite haughty, but not exactly deferential tone that teens have when communicating with parents, delivered this gem, “Yea, but not as funny as they probably think you are.” And then he was gone, back to his lair.

Very astute and observant young man. Cherish every moment.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

I greatly appreciate your magnanimity in these trying times. If only I had $79.99, I would be able to fly high.

You said: The egg has hatched. The acorn is now the tree. The caterpillar is now the butterfly. The butterfly is now laying eggs on the oak.

...and I add ... and the horse has left the barn! We live in truly weird times.

Many thanks for kindest of considerations both now and somewhere in the next life...

Tony

And your barn door is open. Tony, there was a time when I didn't know what that expression meant. But how I learned is rather memorable for me, so I'm going to tell you that story.

About 30 years ago I used to teach a class called, "Introduction to Computers". It was a fun class to teach, with different people of different ages, often older, who were afraid of computers. By the end they would all be typing away like the infinite monkeys working on Hamlet. I really enjoyed being part of that transformation. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, first day, first class. As the class starts, there is some whispering in the back, but I carry on. Then one of the students gets up and walks out. Very inauspicious beginning. I continue on, when someone yells out, “Your barn door is open!” I’m like, “What?” “Your barn door is open!” I’m thinking, Hmmm, my barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. I know all the words but have no idea what is being communicated. I just shake my head, and say, “I don’t understand.” Then people start saying things I do understand, like, “XYZ”, “Your fly is down!”. Ooooooohhhhhhh. Whoops. I turn around and zip up.

At that moment my boss opens the door and says, “Can I speak to you for a moment?” Whew boy, my day is sinking fast. So I say “Excuse me” to the class, and walk out somewhat red faced and feeling a little anxious. I go to my boss’s office, and she says, “Someone just came in tell me your fly is down.”

So I told her I had just been informed and had immediately rectified the situation, and apologized. She said everything was ok, she just didn’t want to embarrass me on my first day in front of the class. It ws a little late for that. I then went back to the class and carried on like the trooper I am. I apologized to them as well and it wasn’t mentioned again.

And that’s how I learned what the phrase, “Your barn door’s open” means. Stuck with me for some reason. And I learned a very valuable lesson about last minute check-overs.

Nowadays I like to tell myself that what I did was a masterful psychological technique used to relax the class and make me, as a teacher and person in a position of authority seem more human and approachable. Yea, that’s it. 10% of the time, it works 100% of the time.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by mc1

And your barn door is open. Tony, there was a time when I didn't know what that expression meant. But how I learned is rather memorable for me, so I'm going to tell you that story.

About 30 years ago I used to teach a class called, "Introduction to Computers". It was a fun class to teach, with different people of different ages, often older, who were afraid of computers. By the end they would all be typing away like the infinite monkeys working on Hamlet. I really enjoyed being part of that transformation. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, first day, first class. As the class starts, there is some whispering in the back, but I carry on. Then one of the students gets up and walks out. Very inauspicious beginning. I continue on, when someone yells out, “Your barn door is open!” I’m like, “What?” “Your barn door is open!” I’m thinking, Hmmm, my barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. My barn door is open. I know all the words but have no idea what is being communicated. I just shake my head, and say, “I don’t understand.” Then people start saying things I do understand, like, “XYZ”, “Your fly is down!”. Ooooooohhhhhhh. Whoops. I turn around and zip up.

At that moment my boss opens the door and says, “Can I speak to you for a moment?” Whew boy, my day is sinking fast. So I say “Excuse me” to the class, and walk out somewhat red faced and feeling a little anxious. I go to my boss’s office, and she says, “Someone just came in tell me your fly is down.”

So I told her I had just been informed and had immediately rectified the situation, and apologized. She said everything was ok, she just didn’t want to embarrass me on my first day in front of the class. It ws a little late for that. I then went back to the class and carried on like the trooper I am. I apologized to them as well and it wasn’t mentioned again.

And that’s how I learned what the phrase, “Your barn door’s open” means. Stuck with me for some reason. And I learned a very valuable lesson about last minute check-overs.

Nowadays I like to tell myself that what I did was a masterful psychological technique used to relax the class and make me, as a teacher and person in a position of authority seem more human and approachable. Yea, that’s it. 10% of the time, it works 100% of the time.

You got me! I looked down.

I have a very similar story. Back in the early 90s, I was writing software field tools for the field service folks, which at the time was a worldwide organization servicing our equipment. I had completed a very comprehensive package with its own Basic interpreter (I was proud of the recursive descent parser in that one) so field people could write their extensions to the tool set. I was asked to teach a series of classes on that package, so I did.

In the first class I taught, most of the people were from Europe. They were a little more willing to say something about the condition of my fly, but otherwise, our stories are very similar. In today's climate, we might have been arrested instead.

I hope reincarnation is the way things work because maybe in the next life, none of us will ever have to know about barn doors. Of course, it could always be worse, so be grateful when the only minor things go wrong. After all, an earthquake could happen anytime, which is why the "barn door event" is nothing earth-shaking.

Tony

[BrunoBlack]

Mr MC1, I want to compliment you on your ability and willingness to abandon this thread. While I have to admit I’ve forgotten about it completely, it is only because this thread exists that I’ve wondered how your sabbatical was treating you.