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Counting out 1,000 marbles... You know how you receive those little philosophical e-mails from time to time? They are those ones that have some unique outlook on life, and are usually accompanied by a `life lesson' of sorts. I received one from an old friend recently. Entitled `1,000 Marbles' it has been making the e-mail rounds lately, and I truly think it's well worth reading. The author (on the copy I saw) was Jeffrey Davis, and the story is about a fellow who listens in on a ham radio on a Saturday morning, hearing a conversation between an older fellow talking to a younger one about the younger one being too busy, `working 60 to 70 hours a week', and how he `missed his daughter's dance recital'. The older man went on to tell how he changed his own outlook many years ago. I quote: "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, most folks live about 75 years. "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900 which is the number of Saturdays the average person has in their entire lifetime. "It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I'd lived through over 2,800 Saturdays. I thought that if I lived to be 75, I only had about 1,000 of them left to enjoy." The older fellow went on to say how he had gone out and bought 1,000 marbles from the local toy store, and placed them in a jar. After that, every Saturday morning, he took out another marble and threw it away. He continued: "I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight." "Now let me tell you one last thing before I signoff with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time." Whether it's a true story or simply some cre- Ted Brown Q