Tibet’s Great Prayer Festival

Footprints carved in wood, which locals believe were made by a worshipper who prayed at the same spot for decades, are seen at a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province February 5, 2009. Local Tibetan monks and pilgrims gather to celebrate Monlam, or Great Prayer Festival, one of the most important festivals in Tibetan Buddhism. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause)

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A crowd gathers to watch Cham Dances during ongoing festivities celebrating Monlam, or the Great Prayer Festival, at a temple in Repkong on February 5, 2009, in northwest China’s Qinghai province on The Tibetan plateau. The Monlam festival was established in 1409 by Tsong Khapa, founder of the Geluk (Yellow Hat) tradition and is the greatest religious festival in Tibetan Buddhism where the performances of masked dancers, known as Cham, always attract a crowd. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Local ethnic Tibetan villagers watch a giant “thangka”, a sacred painting on cloth, being displayed on a hill outside a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province February 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A young ethnic Tibetan monk runs to a prayer meeting in a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province February 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A Tibetan Buddhist monk wears an elaborate head ornament during Cham Dances celebrating Monlam, or the Great Prayer Festival, at the Gomar Gompa (monastery) in Repkong on February 5, 2009, in northwest China’s Qinghai province on The Tibetan plateau. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Ethnic Tibetan monks sit on a roof at the Labrang monastery in Xiahe, which is the biggest Tibetan monastery outside Tibet, February 6, 2009, a day before the Monlam celebration, or the Great Prayer Festival. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #

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Ethnic Tibetan monks attend a ceremony at a monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province February 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A Tibetan boy, known to the locals as the “Living Buddha”, is carried in a cart during a procession around a monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province February 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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Cham Dances take place during Monlam, or the Great Prayer Festival, at the Gomar Gompa in Repkong on February 5, 2009, in Qinghai province on The Tibetan plateau. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Lamas and Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims participate in the Buddha Thangka unfolding ceremony at the Wutun Shang Tibetan Buddhist monastery on January 30, 2009 in Tongren County of Qinghai Province, China. Thangka is a kind of Tibetan tapestry woven with gold or silk, usually with an embroidered image of Buddha on the surface. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

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Pilgrims carry a giant Buddha Thangka tapestry at the Wutun Shang Tibetan Buddhist monastery on January 30, 2009 in Tongren County of Qinghai Province, China. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

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A giant Thangka, a sacred painting on cloth, is unrolled for display on a hill outside a monastery near Tongren, Qinghai province February 3, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A monk walks in front of the Thangka tapestry outside a monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province February 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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Young Tibetan monks watch a performance of religious dances at a monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province February 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A woman prays with prayer beads at the Nyentog Monastery, also known as Nianduhu, during celebrations for the Monlam, or Great Prayer Festival on February 6, 2009 in Repkong, on the Tibetan plateau. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A monk who controls the crowd with a stick wears a mask while people watch religious performances at a monastery in Tongren, Qinghai province February 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Reinhard Krause) #

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A pilgrim gestures in prayer while walking from stupa to stupa early in the morning at Sengeshong Monastery, also knwn as Wutun, during celebrations for the Monlam Festival on February 6, 2009 in Repkong, on the Tibetan plateau in northwest China’s Qinghai province. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A young Tibetan pilgrim pauses during a religious ritual around the Labrang monastery in Xiahe, the biggest Tibetan monastery outside Tibet, a day before the Monlam celebration on February 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #

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A Tibetan woman spins a prayer wheel at the Kumbum Monastery outside of Xining on February 7, 2009 in northwest China’s Qinghai province. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Tibetan monk performs in a mask for Cham Dances during Monlam, the Great Prayer Festival, at the Gomar Gompa in Repkong on February 5, 2009. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A Tibetan prays in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet February 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Emma Graham-Harrison) #

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A Tibetan Buddhist monk stands amid a crowd awaiting Cham Dances during the Monlam Festival, at the Gomar Gompa (Monastery) on February 5, 2009. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Workers drive a front loader inside the Xianghe Tunnel, where the second phase of the Qinghai-Tibet railway from Xining to Golmud runs, on January 11, 2009 in Huangyuan County of Qinghai Province, China. The section measures 286 km (approximately 177 miles) with an investment of over 1.54 billion U.S. dollars. The construction started in September 2007 and is scheduled to be finished in 2012. The Qinghai-Tibet railway is the first rail connection between China proper and Tibet. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

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A farmer walks past piers of a viaduct at the construction site of second phase of the Qinghai-Tibet railway from Xining to Golmud on January 11, 2009 in Huangyuan County of Qinghai Province, China. The portion of the railway passing through Tanggula Pass will be the world’s highest railway at 5,072 meters (16,640 feet) above sea level – rail cars have a built-in personal oxygen supply to avoid altitude sickness. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

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A young ethnic Tibetan pilgrim bows during a religious ritual around the Labrang monastery in Xiahe on February 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #

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Lamas perform a ritual during the annual Buddha Thangka unfolding ceremony at the Wutun Shang Tibetan Buddhist monastery on January 30, 2009 in Tongren County of Qinghai Province, China. (China Photos/Getty Images) #

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A Tibetan woman sticks out her tongue in a customary greeting while approaching a child at the Nyentog Monastery, during celebrations for the Great Prayer Festival on February 6, 2009 in Repkong, on the Tibetan plateau. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

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In the presence of public security authorities, background, monks hold a practice meeting at a temple in Lhasa, Tibet on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/JAPAN POOL, Kyodo News) #

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An ethnic Tibetan pilgrim stands on a hillside overlooking part of the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe on February 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Nir Elias) #

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The view from a bus, Heading towards the 4,900-meter Tro La pass on the road to Derge, Tibet in late December, 2008. (© Hugo Teixeira) #

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Lobsan, a local guide, sits in the hills south of Litang, Tibet in late December, 2008. (© Hugo Teixeira) #

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An Innkeeper’s family at a guest house in Garze Autonomous Prefecture, Tibet, in December of 2008. (© Hugo Teixeira) #

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Men and women crowd around sellers of valuable coral beads in Litang, Tibet in December, 2008. (© Hugo Teixeira) #

Happy Valentines Day

From Wikipedia-

(Saint) Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine’s cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The day was originally a pagan festival that was renamed after two Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of “valentines”. Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.^[1] The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.^[2]

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.

Here is Google’s image for the day-

Mom’s words at Grandpa’s funeral 1/31/2009

”One thing that I admired most about my dad was his honesty. You never could ask a question of my dad unless you wanted the real answer. You might even get the answer even though you didn’t ask the question!
One time my dad had a kidney stone,but the doctor didn’t believe him. When he passed the stone he took a picture of it, blew it up to fill an 8×10 frame, and sent it off to the doctor along with a letter telling him what an idiot he was.
His honesty extended to all of his dealings with people. Never once did I hear him lie nor did he ever take advantage of anyone.
Whenever something went wrong ,he was right there to help. When I dropped a jar with baby fish on the sidewalk , my dad came running after me with another jar and scooped the baby fish from amongst the ground with his bare hands.
One day I was burning up with fever he gently carried me to the car,so i could see the doctor.
When I was an adult ,we moved from Mira Mesa to Santee. We failed to tie down our piano in the moving van. One of the legs broke in such a way that it looked like a green stick fracture.When I broke down and cried my dad said ”don’t cry over spilled milk.I can fix that.”And he did.I couldn’t even tell the leg was even broken, and it looks the same today.
Later the hose to our washing machine broke and flooded the house. My dad came over and spent many hours with a shop vac and rolled water out of the carpet with a rolling pin until it broke. We had to call Service Master, but he was the master of service.
When the house we live in now needed a new roof my dad was afraid it would leak when the rains came. He bought the shingles and helped us nail them on.Soon El Nino came and I was very thankful to be dry.
When my daughter Amanda’s teeth were destroyed by acid reflex, my dad put the price of a small car into her mouth. My daughter thanks her grandpa with her beautiful smile.
When I think if my dad, I am reminded of the saying that love is an action word. He was a man of many talents and I will always remember he used those talents to serve other.
I am very proud that he was and is my dad.”

written by my mom Roxanne Lorenz

Quickies

Oh, to be only half as wonderful as my child thought I was when he was
small, and half as stupid as my teenager now thinks I am.
~~~~~~~~~~
While standing watch in the Coast Guard station in Juneau, Alaska, I got
a call from the Navy in the nearby city of Adak. They had lost contact
with one of their planes, and they needed the Coast Guard to send an
aircraft to go find it. I asked the man where the Navy aircraft had last
been spotted so we would know where to search. “I can’t tell you,” the
Navy man said. “That’s classified.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Gently massaging the trick knee of his attractive young patient, the
doctor inquired, “What’s a joint like this doing in a nice girl like
you?”
~~~~~~~~~~
At Sunday school, the teacher asked Little Johnny, “Do you know where
little boys and girls go when they do bad things?” “Sure,” Little Johnny
replied. “They go out to the bushes at the back of the church yard.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone knows I’m a stickler for good spelling. So when an associate
e-mailed technical documents asking me to “decifer” them, I had to set
him straight. “Decipher is spelled with a ph, not an f,” I wrote. “In
case you’ve forgotten, spell checker comes free with your Microsoft
program.” A minute later his reply:” must be dephective.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Sven and Lena lived on a lake in Northern Minnesota. It was near the end
of winter, and spring was just beginning. Sven asked Lena if she would
walk across the frozen lake to the general store to pick him up some
tobacco. “Sure, but I’ll need some money,” Lena said. Sven thought for a
moment and said, “No, with the weather warming up, I don’t know how
thick the ice is. So just tell them to put it on my tab.”

Jokes

Boomerang
What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work?
A stick.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sleeping at Work

Ten best things to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk

10. “They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”

9. “This is just a 15 minute power nap like they raved about in that
time management course you sent me to.”

8. “Whew! Guess I left the top off the white out. You probably got here
just in time.”

7. “I wasn’t sleeping, I was meditating on the mission statement and
envisioning a new paradigm.”

6. “I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance.”

5. “I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work-related
stress. Do you discriminate against people who practice Yoga?”

4. “Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our
biggest problem.”

3. “The coffee machine is broken.”

2. “Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot.”

1. ” … in God’s name, Amen.”
~~~~~~~~~~
When Snails Attack
A sloth named Herman is walking through the forest one day. A gang of
snails approach him and beat him up. He is left at the bottom of a tree
with several cuts and bruises.
Several hours later he gathers up enough strength to go to a local
police station. Herman walks into the Sergeant’s office. “What happened
to you? the officer asks.
“A gang of snails beat me up,” Herman replied.
“Can you describe what they looked like?” “I don’t know,” the sloth
says. “It all happened so fast.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Employee Placement Method
Does your organization struggle with the problem of properly fitting
people to jobs? Here is a handy hint for ensuring success in job
placement. Take the prospective employees you are trying to place and
put them in a room with only a table and two chairs. Leave them alone
for two hours, without any instruction. At the end of that time, go back
and see what they are doing.

- If they have taken the table apart in that time, put them in
Engineering.

- If they are counting the butts in the ashtray, assign them to Finance.

- If they are screaming and waving their arms, send them off to
Manufacturing.

- If they are talking to the chairs, Personnel is a good spot for them.

- If they are writing up the experience, send them to Tech Pubs.

- If they don’t even look up when you enter the room, assign them to
Security.

- If they try to tell you it’s not as bad as it looks, send them to
Marketing.

- If they’ve left early, put them in Sales.

- And if they’re all bullying each other, they’re Management material.