Who Knew? Penguins Laugh when Tickled!

Ran across this tonight and had to share. Too Cute!

Penguin Getting Tickled

A Penguin of International Appeal

    I was sitting here minding my own business, wondering what I should post about today. I was considering whether it was to soon to post another "My Last 5," when I happened to notice a tab at the top of the page labeled, "Stats." Now I'm a geek. I freely admit it, and those of you who know me can confirm it. As a geek, stats appeal to me, so of course I clicked on the tab.
   The page slowly loaded (the internet connection here at the hotel leaves a bit to be desired at times!), and I considered what I might find. A world of wonder and amazement suddenly revealed itself to me. I was amazed to see that hits to this blog have come from Taiwan, China, Canada, and various and sundry other countries. I had expected to see Iraq and Turkey listed, as I have previously been in communication with prospective readers in those locales, and they were there. It was the others that surprised me so much. I was flabbergasted to find a total of 16 countries listed!
    The first question to cross my mind was, "how did these people find this blog?" Did they stumble across it accidentally whilst looking for hockey information for the Pittsburg Penguins? Are they saddened to find that this blog doesn't deal with those runners known as Penguins?
     What do these international peruser's of the Penguin's wanderings and wonderings think? Am I a typical egotistical American, focused so narrowly on myself and my narrow worldview that my musings are simply derided by international readers without considering there merit? Do my ponderous ponderings provide some bemused expat a reminder of home? Am I making the most of my opportunity to be "a light to the world"?
     Suddenly my words have gained more weight, psychologically, knowing that they are an international representative of me. It's heady stuff, but humbling as well.
     Whoever you are, and wherever you are, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. If not, keep coming back anyhow. It makes me feel good! Wander and wonder at will, me fellow penguins. Until next time, keep waddling!

He who laughs

     Laughter may not actually be the best medicine, especially if you are really sore from surgery or an injury. However, it does have many beneficial effects. It lowers blood pressure, increases oxygen uptake in the brain, or something like that.
     Unfortunately some of us have a hard time finding our laughs, especially on days when nothing goes right at work, it's raining (again), the dog threw up on the carpet . . . (insert your own down circumstances here.)
     I find that there are several things that can help me find my missing giggles.
     One is spending just a few minutes with my children. I can practically guarantee one of them will say something silly if I give them the opportunity. If you don't have children of your own, you probably know someone who will be happy to lend you theirs for a while!
     B, reading the comics. I have daily comics on my yahoo account, and I also have extensive Calvin & Hobbes and Tundra books of comic strips. I have spent my last several evenings just before bed relaxing and getting a good chuckle glancing through those books. It may not be these particular ones that make you chuckle, titter, or snicker, but with a little research I 'm sure you can find a comic that tickles your fancy. Plus, the research shouldn't be boring!
     Finally, find yourself a good comic, and invest some time and money in purchasing copies of their material. Again, tastes vary. I personally recommend Tim Hawkins. He is a home-schooled, home schooling parent who proclaims Christianity. He doesn't curse or make lewd jokes. In short, he proves you don't have to be nasty to be funny. For a sample, go to: http://www.timhawkins.net/.
     Enjoy. If nothing else works, picture the way the penguin waddles. Don't forget to laugh!

How Wude!

     Those of you from the correct generation probably recognize the Stephanie Tanner reference in the title. For the rest of you, once upon a time, not too, too long ago there was a show called Full House. Check it out.

    The reason I am writing is that someone "unfanned" the Penguin. How wude! Weally, weally, wude!

    Was it something I said? Was it something I didn't say? Was it the fact that the posts have been few and far between lately? I'll do better, I promise! Just give me a chance, please? Come back, former fan of the penguin, come back! Please!?

     Okay, the begging is over with. If you were even thinking of unfanning the Penguin yourself, kindly reconsider.

     Thank you!

A rose by any other name . . .

     We are all familiar, or at least most of us are, with the line, "A rose by any other name, wouldn't smell as sweet." I'm not sure if that is true or not, but do think that names are funny things. 
     Take for example, the name of this blog. It is "The Wondering/Wandering Penguin." If you missed my very first post, go back and check out how the name came to be. In short, Penguins are funny, they waddle when the walk, have a personal significance in terms of my relationship with Mrs. Penguin, I get to do lots of wandering around the world, and lots of wondering as I go. I often feel a bit Penguinish. Makes sense, at least to me.
     Imagine if you will that I had named this blog some of the other names I considered . . "The Blahhg," "Moose on the Loose," "Misplaced Moose," "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," or "The Roaming Gnome."
    While each of these had potential, what sort of message would I have been sending with the name of my blog? "The Blahhg" would have given the impression that it was, well, "blah." Who wants to read a blah blog? Not such a good choice, hmm?
    Next, consider the Mooses (meece, moose', what is the proper plural of moose?) I am not particularly Moose-like, and while I am occasionally loosed or misplaced, neither of those really fit my mental image of myself, nor did I feel it would give you, the reader, any insight into what you might find in the postings. Besides my good friend Peyton who got me started on this crazy endeavor is out searching for a moose, and I would hate to give our common readers the impression that he is looking for me.
    "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" gives the impression that I am either poor financially or spiritually, neither of which would be something I would care to advertise in a blog. I actually feel quite blessed in both regards. "Wayfaring" is similar to wandering, I believe, but without looking it up, I can't say for sure. "Stranger," well, those of you who know me know that they don't come much stranger than me . . . or at least that's the way my dad tells it! So PWS really didn't seem to convey the right message either.
    Roaming Gnome might have fit a little better if I were short like my friends "The Troll" or "Wolfie," but since I am average height for a male, and don't like to think that I am Gnomish in appearance, I summarily rejected it.
    Which left me back where we started on this post, a Wondering/Wandering Penguin. What other names do you, my fellow penguins, feel might have worked? Let me know . . . I'm wondering!

Status Update!

     Hello all,
     It's been a while, hasn't it? Instead of several posts for this week, I am going to try and smash it all into one. Settle in and read on!
     This week has been crazy! I finally got credentials at the end of the day last Friday, which means I have been working in the O.R. all week. IT'S AWESOME! So nice to finally be able to do what I trained to do.
     I need 30 cases for peer review, and managed to accomplish half of them this first week. It's almost been like being back in school, having late days and early mornings. One night I fell asleep by 8:30, and another night I was in zombie mode; staring off into space, not answering questions, etc. But it has been fun.
    I did manage to get out of work in time to teach the Wednesday night Bible class, dealing with 2 Cor 2:7-10, talking about forgiveness. We had a great discussion, and I think that several members of the class actually learned something. One of the things that was brought up is that we, as a society, have a faulty understanding of what "forgiveness" means.
     Forgiveness is not letting someone off the hook for whatever they do, no matter what. Forgiveness means that when a person asks us to forgive them, we do our best to forget it, blot it out as if it had never happened. That doesn't mean there aren't consequences for actions, but true forgiveness can only come when it is asked for. That is the example of God, who loves us so much He sent His son to die for us. How can we think to go beyond God and forgive someone who doesn't ask for us?
     The other point that was brought out, and really hit home for me, is this: If we are wrong, would we want someone to "Forgive" us without letting us know we are in the wrong? How can we correct our mistakes, if we don't have them brought to our attention? This does need to be done in love, of course, not in a spirit of meanness.
     Change of subject now: We are dog-sitting for one of my co-workers and his family while they are out of town to attend a funeral. A sad reason to go, but it has been good for us to have a dog in the house again. For those of you who don't know, we had to put our dog down last summer, and it has been an adjustment. While Mrs. Penguin has graciously made arrangements to add to the roll of little penguins wandering around the house (Due the end of May/1st part of June), we still like having a dog around. We are now on the adoption list for a miniature schnauzer, and hope to add one to the household in the coming months.
     Boy Wonder's Tae Kwan Do class moved to later in the evening to accommodate the influx of new DoDos, so we are experiencing even later bedtimes on a regular basis. We also found out that Boo will have to take a break from tumbling this summer due to the deployment of her coach, so she also will become a DoDo for a few months!
     Last night I got to reconnect with my family, and today has been a nice lazy day so far. In a few minutes I'm going to enjoy some wonderful cinnamon rolls (Thanks, Will at Alaska Cake Studio for the idea!) and then get to work on the oft-delayed bookshelves. Stay posted for pictures of the bookshelf project. I hope to have the trial set assembled this weekend.
     Thanks to you all who have continued to spread the word about the Penguin. I was feeling a little blue, thinking about shutting it down since there had been so few comments or votes lately, that I wasn't sure anyone was reading what I was posting. However, there have been a few new fans added this week, so I will continue the wonderings for a while, at least.
     That's the brief update of this week's wanderings of the penguin . . . and how was your week?

Finally, don't forget to vote in this week's poll.