40 Thoughts upon Turning 40 (part 2)

Here are the final 20 thoughts about life on the occasion of my 40th Birthday. See Part 1 with the first 20 here. (Note: I couldn't figure out how to get Blogger to start the numbering at 21.)

1. Cable TV is a rip-off. I don't need or want all those channels all the time. There is no technical reason why I shouldn't be able to buy programs one-at-a-time. I don't want to pay for ESPN every day. But I would pay $10 (or more) to watch Syracuse and Duke play basketball in February. Until you let me do that, I will get by with my antenna and Netflix (and the Slingbox at my dad's house).
2. Mowing your lawn is the single best thing you can do for it. I have gone through periods of my life when I treated my lawn with all kinds of things: organic stuff, chemicals, you name it. But the yard never looks as good as the day after you mow it. So just mow it, and forget the treatments.
3. It took airlines way too long to let us use devices on planes. Like my mp3 player was ever going to bring down a 747. 
4. Get a library card. Your town or county gives these away for free (if you live in the US). You can provide yourself the equivalent of a university education. And you can check out audio books to listen to as you drive. 
5. When in doubt about what to do next, start by showing up. Woody Allen (I think) said that 80% of success is just showing up. Hiding from a problem won't make it go away. 
6. When presented with a new idea, refrain from immediately sharing why it won't work. This is just good manners. Of course there are 8 reasons why your sister shouldn't lease a BMW. But she doesn't want to hear those from you. Even if she is looking for a reason to be talked out of it, start with at least one positive point.
7. You get out of a marriage what you put into it. This statement also applies to any relationship, your job, church, etc....
8. Say you are sorry. Apologies go a long way toward fixing most problems. (Note: This isn't always a good idea if you've just been in a car accident.)
9. Telling lies is too much work. Just don't lie. It makes life so much easier to tell the truth. Then you don't have to keep track of who you told what to. See yesterday's point about baggage.
10. Change your engine oil regularly, but not as often as the dealership tells you to. From the Car Talk guys: Changing your oil every 5000 miles is just fine for modern engines. 
11. Don't stay anywhere longer than is necessary. This is a vow that John Wesley required of Methodist preachers. It's just great advice for everyone.
12. Break up big jobs into several achievable tasks. You won't write the great American novel today. But you probably can write three good sentences before lunchtime. This applies to learning an instrument or a foreign language: a little bit every day does wonders.
13. Take control of jet lag before it takes control of you. I used to travel across time zones fairly frequently. My experience has been than jet lag is 90% mental. If you expect to arrive at your destination tired and beat up then that's how it will play out. But if you have a plan to stay awake until bedtime at your destination, then you can get in sync with your new time quickly. I found it best to have meetings and events happening right away, keeping me busy and awake until nightfall. Then before you fall asleep at bedtime, set an alarm for midnight. That's when you wake up and take two Benadryl to help you sleep for another 6 hours. Get up at 6:00am and start the day with the rest of the world. Better yet, go for a walk as the sun comes up.
14. Have a travel kit ready to go at all times. Packing for a trip is a major drag. Looking for a bottle of shampoo or a razor or a tube of hair gel will make you crazy and waste half your day. Keep all that stuff in its own travel kit that you only use for trips. It will cut your packing time down by 60%. It will also come in very handy in emergencies like unexpected hospital stays.
15. Know how much money you are spending and where it is going. It took me way too long to figure out a way to track my family's spending. For years I lived with anxiety, not knowing if we would be able to afford our lifestyle. A simple spreadsheet fixed that for us. 
16. Church is where you take Communion. I have belonged to organizations that made me question if I really needed to attend church on Sundays. At Asbury College we were required to attend chapel three times a week. The mission organization I belonged to also provided time for frequent prayer and Bible study. So why go to the hassle of joining a church if one can worship with colleagues or classmates? One word: sacraments. Your college or office chapel services (probably) don't baptize people or celebrate Communion. That's enough reason to make sure you are in a real congregation. 
17. Nation-states should not be the basis for picking teams for sporting events. Every World Cup and Olympics reminds me how much I dislike rooting for a team (or individual athlete) based on what passport they carry. It just feels wrong. It also creeps me out that FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are two of the world's worst-run organizations.
18. Professional men tennis players don't go to the net enough. I miss serve and volley play. Why does everyone these days stay at the baseline?
19. Jimmy Fallon needs to bring back guest hosts on the Tonight Show. I love Jimmy Fallon, but he still has a way to go before surpassing the master, Johnny Carson. One thing that Johnny did, which Jimmy needs to re-introduce: guest hosts. It builds up another generation of comedians, and it gives the current host a break. I would rather watch Will Ferrell or Owen Wilson be a guest host than a re-run of Jimmy.
20. Confession: I hated Moby Dick. I just didn't get it. The narrative is broken up at multiple points for no particular reason. Is the whale a metaphor for something? If so, what exactly? Other "great" books I dislike, but for other reasons: Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby.