Lovik's Laws (my life's guidelines)

By Paul Lovik

I offer these Laws for your review. My goal is to provide you with an enjoyable, enlightening and insightful look at a collection of rules that may improve your ability to take pleasure in life.
Although it is a collection of discrete laws, they are inherently connected. Some may appear or actually be contradictory; I suggest you read the whole collection before passing judgment. The whole is like a painting; which cannot be viewed adequately by looking at the individual brush strokes, but must be seen as a total picture.
Long explanations of what you are about to read and how important it may be for you are, in my opinions, a waste of print. If something is important, it should be self evident when it arrives. The sign stating “Bridge out Ahead” does not need additional detail. It is not important to know that it was a freak accident caused by a circus elephant who exceeded his allotment of peanuts or a consortium of criminally deranged gophers who banded together to excavate the foundations of the bridge. Regardless of the cause, you must find an alternative route.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Lovik
• Release date: Oct 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370533404

Book preview

Lovik’s

Laws

OR Working guidelines for living an intentionally happy productive life.

OR A collection of principles collected, borrowed, created & appropriated for life.

By Paul Lovik

ISBN: 9781370533404

I am the second son of a Baptist minister and work at home mother, who did not learn to drive until she was in her early 40’s. I have an older brother, two younger sisters and two younger brothers.

I was the lost child, sandwiched between to firstborns (first son and first daughter). We were raised in California, but it is a big state and we moved around from San Francisco to Long Beach to Lakewood to Manhattan Beach to Reedley where my father was the Assistant Director of a Christian Camp at Hume Lake and YMCA Director at Camp Gaines both in Sequoia National Park; I worked different jobs during these summers including Boat Rentals, Dish Washing, a brief stint on the Salad Truck and Honey Wagon (Trash and Sewage collection). I even fought a forest fire.

During the four years that my father was camp director we were lived at the camps during the summers, the rest of the time we lived in Reedley and I picked fruit in California’s San Joaquin valley while going to high school which gave me an opportunity have some money and appreciate education. I did the normal small town high school stuff: played in a marching band, lettered in swimming, learned to drive and enjoyed the process.

From there we moved to Los Angeles, where I started LA City College worked part time in a hospital as an orderly and ward clerk, moved to Eagle Rock, dropped out of college, met my future wife, and I was hired by a detective agency. It took several undercover assignments; a couple of unsuccessful business ventures with my older brother before deciding to return to college (with the help of the aforementioned future wife).

While pursuing a chemistry degree and teaching credential I worked on campus as the radiation safety technician and off campus at Hal’s Pet Shop, the owners were friends of my future wife’s family; during school breaks I would manage the store and they would take off for vacation. It was a great experience and I even tried to buy the business, but their interest in selling was inversely proportional to my interest in buying; so I completed college with a degree in chemistry, a California teaching credential and a beautiful daughter.

Teaching is a noble profession, but it paid poorly. My wife discovered we qualified for the food stamp program while I was working full time. We were on the food stamp program for two months during my teaching career and we never had so much food in the apartment as we did for these two months. I taught at Arcadia High School, Palos Verdes High School, and Highland Park Junior High School (my son joined us), before changing careers and working for Products Research & Chemical Company (PRC) as a chemist.

PRC presented a wealth of opportunity for growth and experience in the crucible of product development and introduction. I moved from the lab to technical services this position was created for me to support our industrial product line; which was primarily a rail car coating, I was responsible for developing. I also became QC (Quality Control) manager for the construction/industrial product line.

My last big move was to sales. I moved from California to Washington with my my wife, son and daughter. We had great times with the kids in grade school, high school, college and graduate school for my son.

Although I have worked for the same company for over 25 years, the company acquired two other companies and was subsequently sold and bought three times. Life is interesting.

I think older people can be philosophical. Younger people may be clever, but not truly philosophical. They lack sufficient life experience.

Only after having multiple serious disappointments or failures can one truly be philosophical. Success does not make people philosophical, it makes them successful and without failure it makes them arrogant and boorish (boorish being an English term describing a propensity to be self centered and boring, NOT a race of people called the Boors or was that Moors?).

When I was taking physics at Cal State University Los Angeles, one of my favorite professors was Dr Chang. He had a significant stutter, which made for some very interesting lectures.

Dr. Chang was the master of great lectures. Where other professors would pause for dramatic effect, Dr. Chang would try to get through the punch line and get stuck on a word.

Usually when a professor consistently paused for dramatic effect it was not well received by the students, with the possible except those hoping to better their grade by attentiveness and general sucking up. When Dr. Chang’s stutter impeded his ability to say what he wanted, it was truly dramatic. He was not doing it for effect; he was truly excited about the subject and just couldn’t get the words out. I think this was one of the things so endearing about the man. His handicap did not impair his ability to communicate although at times is did slow the flow of information. He had a passion for his subject and enjoyed both teaching and his students. He was accessible to all of us and I appreciated and respected him.

Once, I was in his office asking for assistance in solving a perplexing problem. After helping me work through the problem, he asked a most unusual question.

Do you know what the difference between you and me is?

My mind was working overtime:

You’re a brilliant professor – I am an average student…

Although true, Dr Chang did not think or express himself in these terms. Discarded

You’re Chinese – I’m Norwegian, English…

Also true, (same answer as previous)

You worked with people like Einstein, Rutherford, Fineman – I have read about them and have an existentialist room-mate.

Again, TRUE – but I do not think Dr. Chang knew about my room-mate, Frank

Before I could come up with many more options, he stated dramatically,

Ten thousand problems!

My obvious bewilderment must have showed on my face, because he then clarified his statement.

When you have done ten thousand problems, you will be just------------------------------------------------------------------------ as good as I am! He did stutter!

Okay, I have not done the full ten thousand, but I am a lot closer now, than I was back then and this is my current view of the world.

It is a growing collection of rules, guidelines and truths, which I have named Lovik’s Law because they are mine. I may have invented them, I may have co-invented them (more on this later) I may not have invented them at all and just think I did, but it really does not make any difference how they got here, it is enough that they did (get here). Ronald Reagan was right (also Abraham Lincoln) when they said "…nearly anything can be accomplished if you do not care who gets the credit."

I offer these Laws for your review. My goal is to provide you with an enjoyable, enlightening and insightful look at a collection of rules that may improve your ability to take pleasure in life.

Although it is a collection of discrete laws, they are inherently connected. Some may appear or actually be contradictory; I suggest you read the whole collection before passing judgment. The whole is like a painting; which cannot be viewed adequately by looking at the individual brush strokes, but must be seen as a total picture.

Long explanations of what you