From: ronald.dysvick@sap-ag.de (Ronald Dysvick)

In an ancient monastery, a new monk arrived to dedicate his life to subservient solitude and to join the others copying ancient records.

The first thing he noticed was that other monks were copying, by hand, books that had already been copied by hand.

The new monk had to speak up. "Forgive me, Brother Mark, but copying other copies by hand allows many chances for error. How do we know we aren't copying someone else's mistakes? Are they ever checked against the originals?"

Brother Mark was startled! No one had ever suggested that before. "Well, that is a good point, my son. I will take one of these latest books down to the vault and study it against its original document."

He went deep into the vault where no one else was allowed to enter and started to study. The day passed and it was getting late in the evening.

The monks were getting worried about Brother Mark. Finally, the new monk started making his way through the old vault and after he searched for a while, he heard sobbing.

"Brother Mark?" he called. The sobbing was louder as he came nearer. He finally found the old monk sitting at a table with both the new copy and the original ancient book in front of him. It was obvious that Brother Mark had been crying for a long time.

"What is the matter?" asked the concerned new monk.

"Oh, my Lord," sobbed Brother Mark, "the word is 'celebrate' !!"

Random Thoughts on Marriage...

A husband said to his wife, "No, I don't hate your relatives. In fact, I like your mother-in-law better than I like mine."

A preacher was completing a temperance sermon: with great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." With even greater emphasis he said, " And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river."

And then finally, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." He sat down.

The song leader then stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn 365, "Shall We Gather at the River."

Poker Face

A woman walks by a table in a hotel lobby and sees three guys apparently playing poker with a poodle. She watches in amazement.

Are they circus people rehearsing an act? Finally she says, "Goodness, that's got to be the smartest dog I've ever seen!"

"Ah, he's not so smart, " says one of the men. "Every time he gets a good hand, he wags his tail."