A Few Great Gift Ideas For Dad!

As a dad, I thought I'd help a few of you out with a few gift ideas.  Believe it or not, we love the ties and sweaters and slippers, they're lovely, but how about trying something a little different this year.  Dads are usually hard to buy for, because they don't require much.  I know buying for my dad is impossible. 

After Christmas last year, I wrote a post about one of my favorite gifts--the Keurig Coffee Maker.  I called it my "new favorite thing."  Here it is a year later, and it's still my favorite thing.  I use it every day and I still think it makes great coffee and tea.  Actually I have two of them (wife gave me one, and daughter gave me one so I guess the hints worked well)--I took one to work.  I've got a few favorites when it comes to the K-Cup varieties--my favorites include Donut House Extra Bold and Caribou Morning Blend.  But Starbucks have come out with a few that are good too--including their popular Pike's Place brew.  They've got something for any taste from very mild to "holy crap!"  And the tea selections have gotten better over the past year too--Tazo is now available in K-Cups.  A Keurig would be at the top of my list if I was looking for a gift for a java junkie.

Another nifty toy I never thought I'd like is a Nook.  I thought I was a book-reading purist, and I'd miss the tactil experience of reading on an electronic screen.  Guess what?  I don't miss paper that much.  I bought one about a year and half ago, and I'm seldom without it.  So if dad likes to read, try that, and put a few books he'd like on it so he can try it out right away, perhaps the entire Todd E. Creason library would be a good thing to load on it.  That would be my suggestion anyway.  Once he starts reading it, getting used to it takes very little time, and the inability to leave the house without it sets in almost immediately--wallet, keys, phone, Nook.

There's a couple choices to think about.  Of course there's a Nook Color, which doesn't appeal to me much because I'm a book reader, and black and white is fine for what I do.  But if dad reads a lot of magazines or comics, that color version is very nice.  And there's the new black and white reader with a touch screen (I have the old one)--the Nook Simple Touch.  If dad just reads books, that's the one you should get.  I am very, very tempted by that one (the guy at Barnes & Noble let me borrow one during my visit the other day.)  I'll probably wind up with one eventually, but I still like the one I have.

You know another thing dad might like--a nice hat.  Delmonico Hatter has a great selection, and I highly recommend them as an online seller.  Their service in impeccible, and they carry everything from western hats, to fedoras, Stetsons to Tilleys.  I'd recommend a nice wool winter hat--I've been wearing a Tilley winter hat for about a month now, and I just love it.  It's toasty warm, and very comfortable.  There are a number of different models, find one you think dad would like, and get it for him.  The bonus is you can do this without leaving the house--they ship right to your door, and usually the shipping is free.

And if you don't know his hat size, there's an easy way to get it.  Find a hat he wears all the time.  If it's fitted (like a western hat or a higher end ball cap) the size will be inside the rim.  If it's one of those "one size fits all" adjustable numbers, borrow moms sewing tape measure and measure around the inside rim of the hat--there is a chart that will convert that inch measurement to hat size.  Easy huh?  And if you'd like to buy your favorite author a hat, that's a 7 3/8. 

So take good care of dad this year, and have a Merry Christmas,

~TEC

My Favorite Harry S Truman Story

Harry & Bess Truman

I don't know how many times I've opened with this story over the years, but it's one of my favorites. 

Harry Truman made a speech at the Washington Garden Club. He gave credit for his beautiful flowers to the good "manure" he used to fertilize them. The prim and proper ladies didn't think much of the President's repeated use of the word "manure." 

One of them said something to the First Lady, Bess Truman.  She asked Bess if she could make him stop using the word "manure."  It was a vulgar word in their opinion, and he was, afterall, the President of the United States.

Bess replied, "Heavens no! It took me twenty-five years to get him to say 'manure.'"

~TEC

Take A Few Minutes Every Day To Broaden Your Horizons

"There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in."

~Will Rogers

Claremore Lodge No. 53, Oklahoma

People have a tendency to stick with the things that interest them.  It's only natural to study and learn about the things that you find endlessly fascinating, but at the same time, it can be a little limiting.  I try to take a little time each day to explore the world, and it's way easier to do now than it was twenty years ago.  These little daily adventures over the years have lead to me to become interested in a number of subjects (not just Freemasonry and American history).  In fact, my original interest in Freemasonry came from surfing expeditions I did after seeing the movie National Treasure.  Then I started reading, then there was a petition, three degrees, authored three books, Scottish Rite, York Rite . . . But it wasn't too many years ago when I had no interest in the topic of Freemasonry at all because it hadn't managed to hit my radar, and now, I can't imagine a life without it.

Which is why I love books like this.  The Intellectual Devotional provides a very easy way to learn something about an area you otherwise may never be exposed to.  And you can do that every day in just a few minutes--these short readings are a page each.  I found these several years ago, and I think there are about five of them now.  There are 365 short readings, one for each day of the week, a different subject each day, and if you read one each night before going to bed, it's remarkable how much you can pick up.  I think there are five of these collections now.

This isn't the only book of this ilk.  There's also the Bedside Baccallaureate series--I think there are two of those.  The title might be a bit of an over-reach, but it's full of short lessons on a variety of topics too.  But books aren't the only place you can can get a quick daily fix of learning.  Years ago I had a calendar that would offer up one interesting fact about science each day.  There are website that I enjoy like American History Fun Facts.  I love collections of useless information.  I have dozens of quote books (and I put some of my favorites together in my own collection called A Freemason Said That?)  

It's a big world out there--take a little time out from your day to day life and explore it.  You might just be surprised at what you find out there that interests you.  You might just find, like I did, something you don't even know exists yet that could change the course of your life forever.

~TEC

Happy Birthday Bro. Mark Twain!

"There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded."

~Mark Twain

Polar Star Lodge No. 79

St. Louis, MO 

We all know that blowhard that never stops bragging about the things he does.  How much money he makes.  How many good works he does.  How much he donates to charity.  They are all over the internet.  He's the guy the spends more time talking about the volunteer work he does than actually doing any. 

I grew up being taught that true charity was something you didn't brag about.  It was something that should be done quietly because it's not really about you.  It's one thing to bring attention to an important cause (I do that all the time), but it is quite another to use that cause to advertise what a wonderful person you are. 

Every year around this time, we read about gold coins found in Salvation Army buckets.  We read about some anonymous secret Santa that gives away thousands of dollars, a hundred dollar bill at a time, to needy people.  We don't know who those people are because they don't do it for themselves, they do those things because its something they believe in.  I think that's what I like about Freemasonry--the fact much of the work Fremasons do nobody ever sees.  That's the true spirit of giving--not that jerk that posts on his Facebook "Hope you all enjoyed the football game while I just spent three hours serving meals to the homeless."  Oh, brother.

Yesterday marked what would have been Mark Twain's 176th birthday.  It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that he's one of my favorite authors as much as I quote him on The Midnight Freemason.  There are three great sources of American wisdom when it comes to finding quotes--there's Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, and Will Rogers.  Those are my "go-to" guys when I need a good one.  And of course, all three of those men were Freemasons.

~TEC