So, I was trying to figure out the correct spelling of bane (not bain) in order to use the phrase: “The bane of my existence,’ when I stumbled acrossed the true meaning behind this saying.  I really have no other place to put it but here, so here you go.

To say that something or someone is “the bane of my existence” means that the person or thing is a constant irritant or source of misery. As a cliche, “bane of my existence” has lost its edge to a large degree over the years, and today is most often applied to something that may profoundly annoy us but is certainly bearable. Telemarketers, for instance, have become the “bane” of many folks’ existence, but few of us are sufficiently distressed to turn off our telephones, and while “spam” is a daily “bane,” not many of us would dream of giving up the Internet. “Bane of my existence” is now almost always used in a semi-jocular, “what are you gonna do?” sense.

But “bane” was once a very serious word. The Old English “bana” meant literally “slayer” in the sense we now use “killer” or “murderer.” Early on, the English “bane” was also used in the more general sense of “cause of death,” and by the 14th century “bane” was used in the specialized sense of “poison,” a sense which lives on in the names of various poisonous plants such as “henbane” and “wolfbane.”

From this very literal “something that kills you” usage, “bane” by the 16th century had broadened into its modern meaning of “something that makes life unpleasant, a curse.”

Henry Thoreau, the great American philosopher, was dying, when a priest asked him if he had made his peace with God.
“I was not aware that we had quarreled,” replied Thoreau.

“A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means–the only complete realist.” ~C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

The only journey is the journey within.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Continuous effort is the key to unlocking our potential.
- Winston Churchill

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
- Albert Einstein

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
- Walter Elliott

Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.
- Author Unknown

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.
- Buddhist Saying

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.
- Charles F. Kettering

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.
- William James

Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer.
- Author Unknown

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
- Earl Nightingale

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.
- Louis Pasteur

If you are going through hell, keep going.
- Winston Churchill

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
- William Feather

Paralyze resistance with persistence.
- Woody Hayes

All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means… you’re willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else.
- Vincent Lombardi

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
- Thomas Edison

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
- Newt Gingrich

How long should you try? Until.
- Jim Rohn

Our greatest glory lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
- Author Unknown

You can’t let go and still win.
- Author Unknown

It is perseverance which distinguishes the strong from the weak.
- Author Unknown

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
-Mark Twain

“Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man’s nature—opposition to it on his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow.” 

-Abraham Lincoln

I stumbled across this video today of a young woman who is a student at Harvard. The girl is participating in a panel during Harvard’s Days of Faith. She is asked a myriad of difficult questions about the her faith (LDS). She is also asked to address many of the misconceptions that exist in our society. Her answers are fantastic and I feel she does a great job representing the LDS Church.

“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” ~Anais Nin

“There are two important days in a person’s life: The day he is born and the day he finds out why?” ~Anonymous

As you might have guessed from going through my blog, I am really big on good quotes. Most of the quotes I post here are from bits and pieces of my life, and not any website. However, I thought I would share the two sites I have come to really use. 

ThinkExist.com
QuotesDaddy.com

I could write commentary on both of them, but I will let you explore them and decide for yourself if they are valuable or not.

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice”

~Martin Luther King Jr

.

“He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.” – Albert Einstein

The difference between mediocracy and excellency can ever be so small. ~President Gordan B. Hinkley 

“I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who does nothing.”
~Thomas Edison

Found this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson on the web today: “Every artist was first an amateur.”

I think it is always natural to desire certain talents and skills. To want to be able to sing well, draw beautifully, or play like the masters, though, requires sacrifice. The most significant sacrifice usually is starting out as an amateur. However, having the clumsy hands of an amateur doesn’t last if you have the passion of an expert!

I had lunch with my cousin Jon the other day, and we were discussing a book I want to write. I told him though, that my first book wasn’t really sexy because it will be on blogging. He said this in response: “Oh, feel the curves of blogging—she whispers to me day and night.”

Oh, Jon if you only knew how true these words really are.  ~Paul W.

My good friend Janet Meiners continually shares with me that she uses her blog as a second brain. Basically, blog it and when you need to find it again just do a search.

That’s what this post is for–logging a new discovery into my second brain. Today I learned a great keyboard shortcut for removing multiple web links from a word document. I’ve been putting together an extensive web marketing packet for my day job and I have to copy a lot of information that is riddled with anchored ads. When I put it in Microsoft Word it becomes quite a chore to remove the links.

Instead of removing each link individually, just highlight the anchored text and use ctrl-shift-f9. This is considerably easier than the ardious task of right-clicking  and then selecting “removing hyperlink” for every link.

Hope this helps! ~Paul W.

Yesterday was Fourth of July, and I wrote a post about how we can help relieve the suffering of the Iraqi people. Due to this post I pondered a great deal last night on the freedoms I currently enjoy here in America.

Whether you are for or against the war in Iraq really means little to me. What is important is our responsibility to freedom—both at home and abroad.

I am a grandson of a World War II vet. My grandfather spoke little about the war before his death (even at the great prodding of his grandsons). The atrocities he witnessed and the emotional and physical strain he endured was too great for him to relive.

However, now looking sixty plus years into the past we can see with acute clarity that what my grandfather endured was not only worth it, but essential to the millions of those oppressed by the Nazi regime. Unfortunately, “The War To End All Wars” didn’t, and neither did it end the suffering of future wars.

My brother, who is a year and half younger then me, served in the second Gulf War. The stories he shared with me as they worked to overthrow the Saddam government were appalling; so much so that I have no desire to share them here.

I do not doubt there are politics involved in the current war. However, I am a realist and recognize that we are in Iraq now. Opposing the current war without a solution that doesn’t destroy the fragile freedom of the Iraqi people is a moral chasm that shouldn’t be crossed.

Our soldiers—my brother and grandfather—didn’t fight history’s wars for George W. Bush or Franklin D. Roosevelt. They fought these wars because they realized that freedom was and is at peril. Freedom which allows us to support or oppose the wars we enter.

As you can tell my opinions run deep on this subject. I do not wish to turn this blog into a political platform; that is not its purpose. I just ask that as we walk the path of freedom to not only remember those who have given their lives, but also those who will give their lives for your rights.

There is a great verse in a gospel hymn that sums up our fight for freedom: “If we fail, we fail in glory.” May we not fail, but may we also not use failure as an excuse to cease our struggle for freedom. ~Paul W.

As marketers we often get a bad rap. Mainly, I believe this comes from having the image of being totally money centered and focused. I guess it’s easy for this to happen. Most marketing success is easily gaged by how much money a campaign generates. Large amounts of dollars equal—wine pouring—fantastic success; whereas, no dollars equal—pack up your desk—miserable failure!

Well, I have recently been asked to redeem all marketers and change this poor image. Currently, my close friend, Scott, is over in the scorching deserts of Iraq providing humanitarian aid. He asked that I use my kongfu marketing skills in providing high visibility for their humanitarian effort.

What’s the purpose having marketing powers if you can’t use these talents to save the world! However, we now have a different metric for marketing success. Instead of money, success now equals how many Iraqis’ were given the necessary supplies and medical assistance to live a decent life.

Below is an email that you can forward on to your friends. You can also check out humanitarian efforts by going to www.sheikhdan.com. All the pictures you see in this post were sent to me from Scott.

I am so deeply impressed by what my friend is doing that I am going to see if I can put together drive here locally. I will keep you posted on my labors. ~Paul W.

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An email you can send out to help.

HOW YOU CAN HELP THE IRAQI PEOPLE

We are regular Americans who are currently working in Baghdad, Iraq. Every time we come to Iraq, we’ve been amazed by the support from Americans back home.

People are always asking what they can do, or how they can help. The

people of Iraq are suffering horrible during this period of conflict, and success stories are few and far between.

One such success story is a small medical clinic operating in the Baghdad Green Zone. Every week a number of Iraqi families receive basic medical screenings and further treatment as required. As always, their demands

are far greater than the limited resources available. Diapers, hygiene items, clothing, school supplies and toys can all help to make a difference in their lives.

So we decided to set up a website in an effort to get donations. We also try to take

pictures giving out the donations so you can see your stuff being given to the Iraqis’. If you are interested in helping these Ir

aqi families, please check out the website at http://www.sheikhdan.com for a list of

needs, and send any donations to:

“America Loves Iraqis”
Attn: Daniel Ogden
MNFI-C2-CIOC-C2X-HST
Unit #42002
APO AE 09342