Things I Learned

Once there was a guy named Rick who was very intelligent and knew it, and knowledgeable about a great many things. And he liked to dispense his knowledge to anyone who asked, or didn't ask, and even to people he didn't know, even interrupting the conversations of strangers if he felt he should weigh in. One day at a party, his friend Bob came up to him and said, "You know something, Rick? Between the two of us, we know all there is to know."

"You think so, Bob?" Rick said, smiling. "But what is it you know that I don't?"

"Simple, Rick. You know everything there is to know, except that you're an asshole. And I know that!"

Yes, it's an old joke, but it makes a valuable point. Smart as Rick no doubt is, there is a lot more to life and success than that.

I keep this joke in mind anytime I find something out about myself that is pretty cool, or I'm someplace where I'm the center of attention (in a good way). In the latter case, I know that once I get home, if the trash doesn't go to the road on time, my name is mud.

I found out this weekend that several of my test scores more than qualify me for the Triple Nine Society, which is a high IQ society more exclusive than the well-known Mensa society. To qualify for Triple 9 you have to be in the 99.9 percentile. That just means your IQ is so high that only one in a thousand, or fewer, people have one as high. But having found that out, I was still the same guy, in the same chair, looking at the same computer screen, with the same wife and kids and friends who aren't going to look at me any differently (unless I do something stupid, in which case they may laugh harder).

I also learned this morning that if you do some physical activity you're familiar with, but one day you did more of it and harder than you're used to doing it, the next day you will hurt.

I bought season 4 of "The Office" over the weekend. Now my wife is developing a crush on the oh-so-adorable Jim Halpert. I was wrong about my family not getting into it--my son was practically begging me to watch more episodes with him. And a few minutes ago my wife called and asked if she should pick up season 3 at WalMart while she was there because it was on sale.

Not much else today. Had a busy morning or I would have posted this sooner.