No News is “Good” News!

For the Week of:
February 26 March 4, 2009
ISSUE #382
Weekly
Community
Magazine
~ Priceless ~
No News is “Good” News!
Produced and distributed by ADvance Distribution this week to
over 15,000 homes and businesses in Airdrie and surrounding areas.
Reach us at [email protected] or call 403-948-5529
MAKING GOOD
Written By Al Jones
I received a call from local resident, Teri Foster, the other day. She didn’t seem
angry, although she had full rights to be. But there was definitely disappointment in her voice. She is a single mom of two teenaged boys, trying to balance
a household while earning a living. So when an opportunity arrives whereby she
can do something for her boys that brings fun and laughter to them, she does.
Two weekends ago, it was her son, Alex’s, sixteenth birthday as well as
Valentine’s Day. So she decided to let him have a birthday / Valentine’s party. As
quite often happens with teenagers, two friends invite two others, etc. So you
end up with a few kids that you don’t know, but welcome them in as friends
anyway. With the exception of a little loud music and above average chatter, the
evening seemed to go well. That is until all the guests had left and the cleanup
began. It turns out that someone had walked off with his cell phone. He had a
nice pair of skater shoes that also went missing. But the thing that really took the
cake was finding out that someone had stolen his ESP Schecter Special Edition
guitar. The guitar had been a gift from his dad, so not only is it valuable in the
monetary sense, but it also has sentimental value. Sort of a crappy sixteenth
birthday overall. You have to wonder who would be so thoughtless and
downright mean. You also have to wonder what sort of parent hasn’t questioned
a recent acquisition of a guitar in their household. That’s where I have to stop
myself, because maybe they don’t even know.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…..I was no angel growing up. The only
reason that I am the man I am today, is because my mother always forced me to
make good the things I’d done bad. I recall one particular incident when I was
about fifteen. Some friends and I thought it would be fun to steal this huge water
fountain out of a neighbor’s yard. We had no use for it. Lord knows it weighed
a ton and we darned near broke our backs carrying it off in the middle of the
night. It took us nearly two hours to move it a mere two blocks away so as to
hide it behind an old shed. Did we want it for ourselves? Nope. Were we going
to sell it? Nope. Like I said….we thought it would be funny….I didn’t say we
were smart.
Two days later I came in the door from school and my Mom is holding up a pair
of my jeans and a t-shirt. “What’s this?” she asks as she points to some brown
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paint on the jeans. “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “It sort of looks like paint, doesn’t
it?” she pressed. “I don’t know…I guess,” I shrugged again. With that, she carried
it downstairs with the rest of the laundry. Now for those that have never met my
mother, I assure you, her questions regarding my laundry were a set up for later.
“Later” came at supper time. “So did you hear? Someone stole Mrs. Cartwright’s
water fountain the other night.” I looked up from my meatloaf and into the eyes
of a female version of Sherlock Holmes. “She was especially upset, because she
had just spent the whole afternoon putting on some kind of water proof paint to
hide any water rust stains,” she continued on while watching my reaction. “You
know….funny thing about water proof paint. They use it on boats. Yup. Doesn’t
wash off no matter how hard you scrub. Doesn’t wash off of cement, steel, wood
or even denim.” I could no longer look her in the eye. I had a sick feeling in the
pit of my stomach. Being as Mom makes a great meatloaf, I’m pretty sure the sick
feeling was caused by fear and panic. “Yes sireee … I’d hate to be the culprits
when the police get a hold of who ever stole that fountain,” she continued to
needle. “May I be excused? …. I’m not very hungry,” I stammered. “Sure. Why
don’t you go out and get some fresh air? You look a little pale.”
As soon as I got out the door, I ran to get my buddies. “I think my Mom knows,”
I informed them in a panic stricken tone. “We’ve got to put that thing back so that
the police stop looking!” So, here we were, four idiots scared out of our wits and
waiting ‘til dark so as to return a sixty bazillion pound fountain without being
seen. Although it took us nearly two hours to steal it, it barely took us an hour to
return it. It’s funny how fear can make you stronger. This was one practical joke
that had definitely backfired.
It’s with this incident from my past in mind that I send out an appeal to the
public. If an ESP Schecter guitar, black in color with red color burst throughout
and two she devil looking caricatures covering the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth
frets, has mysteriously showed up in your household, please bring it by our office
here at #402- 2903 Kingsview Blvd. in Airdrie. We won’t ask any questions or
reveal your identity. We simply want to help Alex recall his sixteenth birthday as
being a good time with friends instead of regretting that he invited anyone over at
all. If you really want to make sure it’s the same guitar, you can contact MCC
music in Airdrie to verify the serial number, as they still have it on file from when
it was purchased. You can inquire anonymously. We’ll give a week for someone
to return it. If it’s not returned by then, we will put another plea out through Crime
Stoppers, and offer a reward. Of course, that will also mean charging them with
theft at that point. I’m sure someone knows something about this missing guitar.
Kids can sometimes do things without thinking. Let’s give them a chance to make
good what they did bad.
Getting back to my incident. The morning after returning the stolen fountain,
I awoke to clean laundry. The paint had washed out of my jeans. I remember
walking by Mrs. Cartwright’s house later on in the day. Funny thing…..it was
grey cement. In the daylight, it was plain to the eye that it had never been painted.
All three of my friends and I were indeed punished. Not for stealing the fountain,
but for coming home late on a school night. Mom never mentioned the fountain
again…..not even it’s mysterious return.
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Strong
reasons
make
strong
actions.
- Anonymous
Virtue of the Week
Determination
You focus your energy and efforts on a task and stick with it
until it is finished. Determination is using your will power
to do something when it isn’t easy. You are determined
to meet your goals even when it is hard or you are being
tested. With determination we make our dreams come true.
The difference between determination and
stubbornness is that one comes from a
strong will and the other from a strong won’t.
- Anonymous
You are practicing determination when you…
• Believe what you are doing is important
• Set goals for yourself
• Stay focussed without being distracted
• Keep going if it gets difficult
• Ask for help when you need it
• Finish what you start
Affirmation
I am determined. I set goals and keep going until I achieve
them. I get things done. I stay focussed on my purpose.
© 2002 Virtues Project International Inc.
www.virtuesproject.com
Dicker’s Tools
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Let us not be
content to wait
and see what
will happen,
but give us the
determination to
make the right
things happen.
- Horace Mann
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Putting on Makeup
She was in the bathroom,
putting on her makeup, under
the watchful eyes of her young
granddaughter as she’d done
many times before.
After she applied her lipstick
and started to leave, the little
one said, “But Gramma, you
forgot to kiss the toilet paper
good-bye!”
My young grandson called the
other day to wish me Happy
Birthday.
He asked me how old I was, and
I told him, “62.” He was quiet
for a moment,and then he asked,
“Did you start at 1?”
Who Was That?
After putting her grandchildren
to bed, a grandmother changed
into old slacks and a droopy
blouse and proceeded to wash
her hair. As she heard the
children getting more and more
rambunctious, her patience grew
thin.
Finally, she threw a towel around
her head and stormed into their
room, putting them back to bed
with stern warnings. As she left
the room, she heard the threeyear-old say with a trembling
voice, ‘Who was THAT?’
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A determination
to be of good
cheer can help us
and those around
us to enjoy life
more fully.
- Barbara W.
Winder
FROM THE BOOK LIVE AND LEARN AND PASS IT ON
I’ve learned that you should
never jump out of a second
story window using a sheet
for a parachute. - Age 10
Darren DePagie
www. DEPAGIE.com
(403) 615-5511
I love Referrals!
Thanks!
Canada’s Largest Independent Real Estate Organization
Tech Support
One of my friends works in the customer service call center of a
national pager company. There, he deals with the usual complaints
regarding poor pager operation, as well as the occasional crank
caller demanding to be paged less often, more often, or by more
interesting people.
The best call came from Bubba, who repeatedly complained that he
keeps being paged by “Lucille.”
He was instructed that he would have to call her and tell her to stop
paging him.
“She don’t never leave no number, so I can’t call her back,” he
said.
After three such calls, someone thought to ask how he knew it was
Lucille if she didn’t leave a number.
“She leaves her name,” was the reply.
After establishing that the customer had a numeric-only pager, the
light bulb came on. “How does she spell her name?” the service rep
asked.
“L-O-W C-E-L-L”
Another technical problem solved.
If I had to select
one quality, one
personal
characteristic,
that
I regard as being
most highly correlated with success, whatever the
field, I would pick
the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to
get knocked down
seventy
times
and get up off the
floor saying, ‘Here
comes
number
seventy-one!’
- Richard M.
Devos
Page 6
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Affection is
responsible for
nine-tenths of
whatever solid
and durable
happiness there
is in our lives.
- Clive Staples
Lewis
Valentine Contest Winner is...
Zoe Moran
Congratulations to
Zoe Moran on her
win of the
Valentine’s Contest
we held in the
Scoop. This year
was a tough year
with all the entries
and we sure
appreciate everyone playing along.
Watch for our Pot
of Gold contest
for St. Patty’s!
Valentine Contest Entry
Thank you to everyone for all the beautiful pictures that were
coloured and handed in at my office for Valentine’s.
The many poems that came in were great, and some so cute it
was hard to pick. Keep an eye out for me Pot O’ Gold contest
for March 17th! It will be fun, fun, fun!
I just had to print this poem for all our readers to appreciate. It
is beautiful and I just loved it. Enjoy!
- Lois
(poem is shown on page 9)
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