Ahhh … brothers and sisters – a bit of a Greek Tragicomedy here, wouldn’t you say.

Our young WoodChip Cherry is writing in her journal and seems a bit miffed at her brother for sitting on her pet butterfly named LUCKY.  And she’s also dreaming of becoming a Farmacist (Pharmacist) so she can make her butterfly better.

Hey, I think it’s pretty cool she’s writing in her journal.  I’ve written a journal off and on for years.  And to wax a bit philosophical on you, journals are great for writing dreams and memories … because somewhere between dreams and memories can be ambition and achievement – a desire to do better.

As lofty as that sounds, the entries can be simple, and short – like Cherry’s.  No need to be Shakespearean here.

You know, many successful people have kept journals.  I think it’s a key to their success.

Here’s what Michael Masterson, bestselling author of The Pledge and founder of Early To Rise says.  “Keeping a journal is a wonderful thing to do for yourself.  It can help you figure out a direction for your life, and then guide you where you want to go.”

You might say Michael is successful, having taken a business from $0 to $380,000,000 in ten years.  How about those dreams … and achievements.

Here’s another.  In the year 1912, at age thirteen, a young woman took a train ride with her friends.  And she wrote an entry in her journal about it.

So simple.

Yet I think she must have written of other things as well – full of dreams and lofty, blue sky ambition.  Because she went on to become the most famous aviatrix of her time – in a time when only men were supposed to fly airplanes.

Her name was Amelia Earhart.  I’ll bet you guessed that already.  She became the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross — for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  And she set many other records as well before she was lost attempting a circumnavigation of the globe.

Some dream.  Some ambition.

And another.  She was blind.  She could not speak and she couldn’t hear.  Her name was Helen Keller.  And kept a journal for a while.  And we think it’s hard to keep a journal – maybe not so much.

Just a few more — no surprise here, really … George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson … Benjamin Franklin … they helped start a young nation called the United States.  Perhaps you’ve heard of it (chuckle)?  Some dream.  Some ambition.

And back to that memory thing, here’s an interesting post a woman made on the internet about why she keeps a journal.

“My Senior year I had my first serious boyfriend… and second, and third. The last was the big love of my life.  First kiss and first everything else. We’ve been together ever since … and my journal helped me record all my happy memories so I could remember every sweet thing he ever said to me, every fun date we went on …”

Nice memories.  Don’t you think she’ll look back on this entry with pleasure when she’s older, and relive those moments?

You can give a gift like this to someone special this holiday season.  Why not buy them a journal.  They’re not expensive, and you can get them just about anywhere (including here if you like).  And even if that special person never writes in it, I’ll bet they “get” the meaning of the gift you are giving them.

And you never know – the smallest thoughtful things we do sometimes set people on great paths.   Like Amelia Earhart, and Helen Keller and others.

I’ll bet you have a lot to do this holiday season, so if this sounds like a good idea and you want to save some time, you can order some WoodChips journals right here.  They are unique and sold nowhere else … in the world … just here.

One woman in Los Angeles just ordered eleven of them.  She bought that dream and memory thing for the special people in her life.  And I hope one of those journals was for herself.  Because you can do this for yourself too, you know.

So if you like the idea, just click here to browse and shop. Or if you want to shop around, hey, that’s okay too.

Because whatever you decide, the WoodChips wish you dreams and memories, and, ummm … also, that no one sits on your pet butterfly named LUCKY.

Have a nice day – J. Daniel

Journals available in the WoodChips Store

Upon seeing the Lady of  Leisure cartoon, astute reader Lilly suggested it was missing a plate called “Keeping Husband Happy.”

The WoodChips are responsive to good suggestions and so, pictured above, is Lady of Leisure II.  We generalized her suggestion a bit to read Husband, Boyfriend, Whatever.  And just looking at the picture, it seems like that plate is a little shakey, like it requires extra attention or something.

Interesting.

Do Husbands, Boyfriends … and Whatevers require much attention?

I’m thinking some of the WoodChip Women might want to express an opinion on that.  Which you can do by clicking on this posts title and writing in the box below this post.

Lilly has now been added to the distinguished Honorary WoodChips list. If you have suggestions for cartoons, be sure to send them in by commenting on a post or e-mailing them to jdaniel@thewoodchips.com.

Have a nice day – and thanks, Lilly, for your suggestion – J. Daniel

Pat down searches in airport security have been hitting the news lately.  And WoodChip June Nipper has her own take on the whole thing.

Comedy aside, it does seem like the NSA has gone a step too far with this.  It reminds me of the often said thought that govrnment only does two things well.  They are to 1) do nothing and 2) overreact.

The current airport delimna seems to be part of the latter.

Still, I’m not too worried about it because I think it will get sorted out fairly soon.  Why am I so optimistic?  Because the problem is clearly visible to the public and somewhat dramatic.

I am far less optmistic about all the unauthorized wiretapping of private citizens because it goes unnoticed day by day, hour by hour.  And I think it has the potential for much greater harm.

But that’s my opinion — what’s yours.  Which is more harmful to U. S. citizens?  Overly zealous airport searches or unauthorized wiretapping of private citizens.

And on that happy note (chuckle) have a nice day – J. Daniel

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm,” said Winston Churchill.

I really like this quote by Winston, a man full of wit and wisdom.  And he had ample opportunity to practice it during the dark days of World War II in Great Britain.

So as you go from challenge to challenge today, you might think back on this for a moment.  At least you and I are not being constantly bombed by V2 rockets — although at times it may feel like it (chuckle).

To give fair credit, I stumbled onto this quote at Drayton Bird’s blog.  Drayton is an Englishman, full of wit and wisdom in his own right (and called the top direct marketing man in the world).  I had the privilege of meeting him last week in Delray Beach.

You might enjoy his dry British humor, life and business insights at his blog site – which he humorously calls Drayton Bird Droppings.

Have a courageous day – J. Daniel

The Fork In The Road cartoon has been added to the Tree-Cards library.

Now you can send this Tree-Card to your friends.

The fork in the road is a common theme in great stories where the hero of the story comes to a major decision point in his quest, life or journey.

And it’s a common theme in our lives as well - we all come to decisions like this – to take a new job, to relocate, to improve, on and on.

Maybe a friend of yours is at a fork in the road right now.  If so, you can send them the Fork In The Road Tree-Card.  To encourage them — or confuse them — hey, keep me out of this — this is between you and them (chuckle).

So go ahead and click the Tree-Cards tab to select and send the card.  If nothing else, you may get a chuckle out of them, and that’s ALWAYS good.  That’s what the WoodChips are all about, “Saving our planet, one chuckle at a time.”

Life is Wood.

Have a great day – J. Daniel

When you come to a fork in the road, take it, as they say.  Pictured here is the Woodster, our hobo, king of the road WoodChip character, who has indeed come to a fork in the road and is about to take it.

Nonsensical phrases like these are called malapropisms.  The word is derived from the French phrase mal  á propos which means ill-suited, or inappropriately used.  Malapropisms are created by the substitution of a word for a similarly sounding word, resulting in a phrase that makes no sense or creates a comic effect.

The word malapropism has been around since the 1600’s.  Shakespeare used them in his plays and more recently they’ve been used in Archie Bunker, the Sopranos, Bugs Bunny and many more.

I think the intentionality of the use, i.e. whether the speaker did it on purpose or not, adds even more tension and humor to these phrases.

Two contemporary individuals who have used malapropisms are former President George W. Bush and the legendary baseball player Yogi Berra.  George Bush once said that “Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries (i.e., fundamentals) of educationalizing (i.e., educating) our youths.”

And Yogi Berra has been chock full of them – a couple of his classics being “It’s déjà vu all over again” and “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.”

The “Fork in the road” is also a Yogiism.

So back to intentionality, what do you think?  Did George Bush and Yogi Berra accidently misuse these phrases — or say them to be funny?

You may click on this post’s title to leave a comment in the box that will appear below.

And with that question, I leaf you for now – heft a good day – J. Daniel

The Huffington Post published this weeks cartoon on their front page, so all you women got top billing this week.

And well you should have — keeping all those plates spinning in the air after work on your second job.

So Maple has plates for Cooking, Boss, Kids, Cleaning, Work, Bills, and the Sanity plate is kind of cracking.

What are your plates – c’mon, I know you’ve got a lot of them up in the air.

So tell us your plates — just click the title of this post and comment in the box that will appear below.

And have a nice day – hey, as best you can with all that going on – J. Daniel

P.S. Why not send the newsletter to your busy friends – they could use a little empathy too, don’t you think.

The WoodChips hit the Huffington Post front page as well as the Green environmental section front page this week.

The cartoon, called Lady of Leisure, sympathetically shows a WoodChip gal keeping all the plates in her life in the air.  Fun products featuring the cartoon were recently added to the WoodChips Store, including ten note cards for only $13.99, triggering interest in the WoodChips site and store.

Hitting the front page of the Huffington Post is no small feat.  The Post is ranked as the most powerful blog in the world by The Observer.   The site is visited by over 24 million unique viewers in a month.  To put that in perspective, that is five times more than many new-media rivals.  That’s more than The Washington Post and USA Today, and almost as many as The New York Times.

The Huffington Posts has had many notable contributors.  A few you might recognize are Barack Obama, Robert Redford, Hillary Clinton, Bill Maher and many more.

The WoodChips are viewed regularly in over twenty-five countries around the world.

Life is wood – J. Daniel

P.S. If you are interested in the cards and other fun products featuring the cartoon, go to the WoodChips Store here.

P.P.S.  You might find the Huffington Post interesting.  They update the news throughout the day.  You can check out The Huffington Post here.