January 6, 2010 - Getting restless - again...

It's that time of year again! But then, when isn't it? I'm getting restless and thinking of selling the house and heading overseas. I think I'll wait and see what the tax assessment is before getting too excited about that possibility. I don't want to sell it when it might appreciate in value the next couple of years.

We have begun taking daily walks, even though it is cold out right now. I did see where the temps are supposed to moderate to around 50 by next week sometime. Too bad. I'd rather have it snow some more, like, all the way through the end of February. Then it can warm up and rain.

I read about a place in New York where it has snowed every day since late December, and they now have 55 inches on the ground, with more on the way. We'll have to wait and see if the next system will bring us any. It's supposed to hit the midwest pretty hard again, but the pundits say only that it "could" bring us some snow Thursday or Friday. That includes Atlanta, which at least in the past, if they got snow, we got snow. However, unless the system heads off the coast, and then comes up the coast, we'll get very little, if any.

I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, we moved down here from Maine because we were tired of the cold weather up there.

Lunch today with my friend who grew up in Turkey. He purchased a new Outback, and I am anxious to see how it performs. Where we'll go to lunch? Don't know yet. Don't care, really. All I'm going to have is a salad of some sort.

After that - Starbucks, lattes, and reading for the afternoon!

Saw where yet another player of baseball received $120 million for seven years. What a waste of money! I wonder how the sports teams will be doing later this year after people can no longer afford to go to games. The economy will eventually hit them as well, and frankly, I wish everyone would stay away from the stadiums, but, we all know that won't happen, just like all the people who complain about the idiots in congress will complain while they reelect the same bums that are there.

They listed some of the latest restaurants that are closing due to the economy in the paper today, some that we have gone to, but like many others, have not for a while. Too bad. More people out of work now.

I think it is disgusting how many American companies have left this country to seek "cheaper" labor in other countries. Their products are just as expensive as they ever were, in cases more expensive. But, they could care less. Their big concern is satisfying the huge Chinese market, since that is where they can make the most money. The US is nothing more than an afterthought now.

And still, the powers that be keep saying we just need to come up with the next big thing, whatever that is. If there is another big thing, it will be made in China anyway, so what does that get us?

I corresponded with Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, a few years ago, about all the outsourcing that was draining jobs from American soil. His response was that we needed to adapt, that outsourcing would create opportunities for Americans to be retrained into the new fields that were just emerging. We never got into exactly what those fields were, or the fact that no company I can think of would retrain their older workers in new technologies and pay them what they were making. I cannot think of a single company that will hire a person over fifty who has retrained themselves to do something, and pay them even close to what they were making, and that's if they hire them at all.

Even though the trend is for more "old" people in the future, all the thrust of advertising and jobs is for the younger generation. This tells me that most companies will treat anyone over fifty as if they were non-existent, lower their sales expectations, and market their goods overseas to the younger generations of the upcoming leaders of the world, China and India.

This president, and presidents past kept telling us that America's best days lie ahead. This while everything keeps sinking lower and lower... And, we hired them to lead us to this better place, but where they are taking us is into the morass of newspeak... George Orwell, we may be a few decades late, but we're coming, man, and we're picking up speed!

January 5, 2010 - So it's Tuesday already?

The weather forecast has gone from a few snow showers on Friday, to snow showers on Thursday and Friday, to a few snow showers on Thursday. And people think the "experts" can predict the weather for years to come? They can't even predict it from one day to the next.

I began the process of restructuring my book, not changing it so much, as moving things around to try and make the beginning more interesting before getting into the real story. I have added some verbiage to the title, which now reads "The Diary of Aimee Roth - The Girl Who Lived in Colours". I want to finish and have it ready to submit to a publishing house by the end of February. The changes are in response to my not being satisfied with how it reads and the response of agents who were kind enough to provide constructive criticism.

I'm also working on my short story, which is titled for the time being "The Cover of A Book". I am probably 60 percent finished with the initial writing, and want to finish that by the end of next week. And then, the rewrite begins. I'm going to attempt to complete the story as close to 5,000 words as possible. We'll see how that goes.

Later today I am going to retire to the upstairs and do some drawing, hoping to return to the mood whereby I can do some more watercolors in the near future. Having sold one, my "inventory" is down to four. I plan on taking one of those to the store where I sold the last one, and add it to the selection, see what happens.

Tonight, we will venture into the cold and drop by Border's to see if there is anything there we can use our coupon on. This time of year, not many new titles become available, what with most stores trying to pare down their inventory in order to take inventory.

I am reading yet another two books in addition to the two I was reading. I decided that these two would be classified as "the Starbucks Books", and I would take them to read when we go, whereas the other two, "Don Quixote..." and "The Red Wheel" will be my afternoon and bedtime books. I'm just about half way through Don Quixote, and almost a third done with the other one.

One of the two I am reading at Starbucks is "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It is the second novel I have read by him, the first being "The Shadow of the Wind". He has other books out, but they have not been translated into English as of yet. I hope they are. These two are really well written, and tell very interesting stories. This one is set in Barelona, Spain, and having been there when reading about the city it beings back nice memories of places we've been and seen.

The other is a graphic novel titled "The Photographer" by a French artist and writer. It is also the second book by him that I have read. The first book, "Alan's War" was a graphic novel that for some reason was incredibly interesting even though Alan, a real person, did nothing exceptional during the war, never fired a shot in anger, and survived without any injuries. Perhaps it was so interesting because of that. Alan, at the end of the war, opted to stay in France and lived the rest of his life there. What he did for a living over there is not covered so much in the book, but he did meet and get to know some really interesting people later in life.

The book "The Photographer" is another true story about a photographer who accompanied a group of doctors, member of the organization 'Doctor's Without Borders', to captur a mission they went on into Afghanistan when Osama Bin Laden was one of the leaders of the rebels fighting the Russians. I just began this book, and find it interesting how the artist incorporated actual photographs into the story line and his artistic representations.

As you can see by what I am reading, none of the stories were written by American authors. Sad to say, since the writer's like Leon Uris, Herman Wouk, James Michner, Upton Sinclair, Theodore Drieser, John Steinbeck, Hemingway, and others of their time and before, no longer write, there's not much written by current American authors I find that interesting in the world of fiction. I find that the foreign authors I have read are more interested in writing a good story about people then they are in creating titillating physical scenes, bloody scenes, or chase scenes. Now, if I want to get disgusted by a persons actions, or depressed by the state of things, I need only to look at C-span and watch our senators and congressmen and -women in action...

January 4, 2010 - Freezing out!

It's cold here, but we're lucky compared to the people up north, like in Burlington, Vermont. It's not only cold up there, but they received 33 inches of snow over night! 33 inches! In a few hours! It broke the record for snow total for a storm. It used to be 30 inches, and that was accumulated over three days, not 8 hours. Amazing!

Now they're saying that this could be the coldest US winter in 25 years! Must be that global warming thing, the one where the average temps have not risen in 10 years, or the one where the weather is related to the sun spots, or lack thereof, or the cycle before when the earth was warmer than it is now, back when the dinosaurs were driving really big SUVs around, chasing down their dinners at the local fast food places that filled them with delicious fatty foods, making them extinct.

When people speak about Australia and the Aborigines, one thing stands out. The experts have said that the Aborigines walked to Australia before the water rose enough to create an ocean between Australia and the rest of the world. That was over 30,000 or 60,000 years ago, which also means the ice was melting way back then, too. Once again, the Aborigines must have been driving those big SUV's which melted all that ice back then.

Of course, there have been min-ice ages along the way, and who knows, maybe the government will now start warning people about the impending ice age as they did back in the mid-seventies. Oh, and of course there was the famous Dr. Barry Commoner who predicted back in the 60s that we'd all starve to death by now according to his scientific assessment.

I remember when Mt. St. Helen's erupted. All the experts said it would be decades before the area around the mountain would begin to recover. Lo and behold, the very next spring what popped up through the volcanic ash? Flowers! The rebirth began in less than 6 months!

When Saddam blew all the oil wells in Kuwait and parts of Iraq, the experts said it would take up to two or three years to put all the fires out and the environmental result would be a disaster. What happened? The last fire was put out within 6 months, and the impact was minimal. And these people are looked at as experts?

Scientists have said that the moon used to be very close to the earth millions of years ago, and it is moving away at about .5 an inch a year. The farther it moves from the earth, the more the earth will wobble on its axis. Maybe it already is, at least to the point where areas that are hot sometimes are cold other times, and vice versa, depending on the movement of the axis. If that is impacting our weather, which it could, man can do nothing about it. Cap and Trade will do nothing more than what it has done in Europe... Making the big companies richer because they can afford to buy a lot of polluting credits for resale later at a much higher price to the smaller companies. Pollution is worse in Europe than it was before Cap and Trade, and will continue that way because it solves no problems.

Why am I talking about the weather and global warming? Because I feel like it. When one reaches their elder years, global warming sounds like a nice scenario. Too bad it won't happen in my lifetime. Not as long as mother nature controls things and makes it cold during the winters. Will winters return to the way they used to be when I grew up? I don't know... but then, neither does anyone else. All they can do is speculate.

January 3, 2010 - After I'm gone...

When we reach our "elder" or "senior" years, we begin to look back and ask ourselves, "What was my life about? What was it for, the purpose of it all?" At least I do. After watching CBS Sunday Morning today where they reviewed people who had passed away in 2009, once again I began to wonder "why" about a lot of things.

Like, why was there not one single thing I could be passionate about from an early age, something I could have devoted my energy to doing instead of switching from one thing to another, never becoming a master at anything, and only mediocre, at best, of few, or many things? I truly envy those people who have a desire to focus on one particular thing in their life. My sons were lucky to be like that. They each had a specific area where they had an undying interest to achieve, whether it be as a policeman, a chef, or an expert with knowledge of comic art as well as art in general. We, as parents, attempted to encourage each of these areas while allowing them to explore other things as well. But, for them, they knew what they wanted to do, and were able to focus on just those areas.

While I realize it was because of how they grew up my parents never once asked me what I wanted to do with my life, or what I had an interest in. My father, God rest his soul, was never close to me. He was a tool and die engineer, and all I ever heard from him was "be and engineer". I never ever looked into being an engineer, mostly because I heard that so many times I would not have been one if it was the only thing there was to do in the world.

Looking back, even when I was young, I could never settle on anything. There were always too many things I found interesting, and if I started one thing, eventually I would loose interest in that and start something else. This process probably had nothing to do with how I was raised, but I guess I will never know. I mean, other people have problems growing up, yet they have things or something they focused on and made their way in the world. So, the bottom line was and is, the problem, whatever it is, is within, not the result of some external force or parents.

Some people have been kind enough to suggest things I could do, like join the Peace Corp. While I have the utmost respect for the people that have done that, it's not me. Others say, go to school and learn something. Okay. What do I want to learn? If I had it to do over again, what would I study? Architecture? I'd love to have the ability to create beautiful and functional buildings that would allow the people in them to achieve their best... No, perhaps I'd study Journalism. I'd like to be a reporter, gather stories of people, real people, and let the world know what's really going on... And, I'd like to study Art History, how and where color comes from, how did the Impressionists layer their paintings, bringing the colors together to capture a moment in time that will be appreciated for many after they passed... I'd really like to study Marine Biology as I love the sea and all the wonders and nourishment one finds within the world below us... History has a special place in my heart, albeit small, to allow all to look back at how we arrive here, and how things might have been different if only... I wish I had studied languages so I could travel and speak to the people of the world, learn about them, and how their lives and cultures developed...

And now you see just a portion of why I envy people who were able to focus on something, have a passion about something. I was asked more than once in my life what my passion was, or is. I could never come up with something, so I evaluated the person I was speaking with, and lied to them, telling them what I thought they wanted to hear in order for me not be be fired from my job.

Even though I know my lack of achieving anything of merit is based within, it does not make one feel any better knowing that once I'm history that the words brought to mind when, or if, someone thinks of my time on earth will end up being..."Yeah, I remember him. He was really great at......?

January 2, 2009 - 'nuther Saturday of cold weather...

We still have a somewhat small pile of snow beside our mailbox. I think it's waiting around to see if anymore will fall before it's all melted.

Went to the mall to get some exercise and not freeze in the process. We're not 'mall walkers' per se, more like mall strollers (legs and lower torso), ooops, found something (eyes and upper chest from breathing heavy sighs), extract wallet (arm muscles), and buy it (tear ducts)...

Having exercised, we stopped at Chick-filet and had a small bowl of chicken noodle soup (more exercise - lifting) and relaxed after such a strenuous half hour.

Left the mall and headed to Trader Joe's. We have found they have some really good buys from a food standpoint. We found some cranberry almond biscotti which sounded pretty good. And, we bought some veggies as well. So far today I've only had an apple, two hard crackers with sunflower butter and honey, and the bowl of chicken noodle soup. This is to make up for the all the desert I ate yesterday. My wife didn't want anymore, so I felt if I didn't get rid of it, I would be eating it for several days. It was something called a truffle of trifle, take your pick. It was made with angel food cake, vanilla pudding, raspberries throughout, and topped with whipped cream and shreds of white chocolate! Needless to say, it was all I could do to manage to eat most of the half that was left! So, today, I'm atoning for my effort!

Went to see "Me and Orson Welles" last night at the Westhampton at Grove and Libby. Excellent movie! It was not only enjoyable, but there were some previews of upcoming films that look really good as well. They seem to come out with too many good movies all at once, and then there are none for a long spell. We managed to get a free drink and an almost free popcorn. It used to be free, but they now have it 'free for a dollar'. However, one does still save some money doing it that way.

We have entered the season of the gum balls! That is the dreaded time when all those little balls hanging from the gum trees begin to drop so that they can grace ones yard. If the ground is hard, one can sprain an ankle walking across ones yard. If the ground is soft, then one pushes them into the ground as they walk, and the next thing one knows is that they have a lot of new gum trees sprouting in their lawn. I use the term 'lawn' loosely, as what I have is a yard that was covered pretty much with crabgrass before I killed most of it, and currently have a few strands of grass remaining with a lot of mud.

I spread $60 worth of grass seed in December, after which it was immediately soaked by one of the many monsoon rains we have in December, to be followed by our snow and freezing temperatures. I will be interested to see if any of it germinated. Next month, I'm going to spread fertilizer and lime. Why? I have no idea, except that I like to think I'm cultivating a lawn with real grass. Last resort - buy a spray painter and spray paint the yard green. I've been hoping it would all turn to moss. Moss is perfect! Green, soft, doesn't need mowing or fertilizing, but, no luck so far, except in the driveway. But then, I can get grass to grow in the driveway. Perhaps I'll start parking in my yard...

New Year's Eve was a quiet one for us. Went to bed around 11pm. Ginny said she was awake at midnight but did not hear anyone firing off firecrackers as in the past. I was glad they didn't. At least I got to keep sleeping!

Short story is going well. I have no idea where it's going, but that's part of the fun - letting the characters drive the story and take it where they want it to go. Many times I have been pleasantly surprised as where they took me. But then, sometimes they lead me down a dark alley and I can't find my way out.

Well, I guess I'll plug in the TV and watch something...

December 31, 2009 - Last days and miniature railroads

We just finished welcoming in the new year in Paris. Unfortunately, it was via the internet and a web cam pointed to at the Eiffel Tower, but, I guess it's the next best thing to being there.

We went to a new restaurant in the Fan for lunch today. It's a place called Garnett's located at 2001 Park. It was written up in the local paper this morning in glowing terms, but we had been told before that by our personal restaurant critic, our son, that it was excellent. With two votes of approval we just had to try it out, and it was well worth it!

The food is mostly sandwiches, and has prices that are very reasonably. They make their own pickles, and Boston brown bread, as well as any pastries around for breakfast. I wanted to buy a loaf of the Boston brown bread, but they cannot sell it by the loaf, as that would require yet another, different license.

We each ordered a sandwich and then shared by her giving me half of hers, and I gave her half of mine. "Her" is that Ginny person I share my life with. By sharing we were able to taste two different things. Also, they have "French" potato salad, which was REALLY good! By the time we finished, we were too full for desert, but that's a good thing.

On the way down there, we crossed over the rail yards on I-95 south. When I looked down on it from the bridge, the tracks and trains looked so small. I thought once again how some things we once wanted never seemed quite high enough on our priority list to obtain over the course of our life. The latent desire evoked by seeing the trains was one I had when I was very younger; I wanted to have a really nice model train layout when I grew up.

Many decades ago, when I was around eleven years old, I used to enjoy building model buildings to be used on a train layout, even though I never had one growing up. I made them from plans I found in one of the model train magazines, or something I created myself. They were made out of balsa wood, and I took pains to make them look realistic, using cellophane for the windows, cutting indentation lines in the sides in order that they looked like real siding, and placing trees and shrubs around them for landscaping.

The town I grew up in from the age of ten through high school was a small town in central Indiana named Marion. One day, while riding who knows where on my bike, I stopped at the old, no longer used, train station. When I looked in the windows, I saw before me a huge model train layout. It was HO gauge, which is relatively small when compared to, say, a Lionel train.

I went around to the door to see if it was open, and it was! I went inside and saw a man down at the other end. He told me I was welcome to look around, so I did. The layout occupied the entire building. It was a miniature world, complete with mountains, rivers, and small towns with cars and miniature people. The trees and shrubs were made from green colored sponges. I was mesmerized as the trains passed by me, the sound of their wheels on the tracks making me wish I could hop on and see where they were headed. I had never seen something as wonderful as this.

The man, a Mr. Knudsen I was to learn, hobbled down to where I was. He towered over me, but then, when I was eleven, everyone towered over me. He wanted to know what I thought of his layout. I told him it was really neat, and did he need, or want any additional buildings, that I built them for fun. He told me to bring them in, and he would take a look at them, no promises.

The next time I came down there, which was probably the next day, I brought a house and a business like building with me to see what he thought. I don't know whether or not he really liked them, but he allowed me to place them on his layout with the caveat that once there, they had to stay forever. I was thrilled my buildings became a permanent part of that layout! I don't remember if I ever built anymore for him, or how many times I went there. I wish I did remember. Today, on occasion, I think wanting a layout, but I have never had the place, the money, and, in reality, the desire, I suppose, or I would have it by now.

After I left Marion, I joined the army, and discovered the real world. The miniature one that I used to think was the best thing there was faded into the distance as I became restless to see the real one.

It was many years before I went back to Marion, not having fond memories of the place when I left. While there, I went in search of the train station to see what the train layout might look like then. It was not there. It was gone. Not only the layout, but the entire station. I felt that Mr. Knudsen must have passed away as he was getting old while I was still very young. If he were alive, I never found out, and had I, I don't know if I would have searched him out or not.

Perhaps things would have been different had I not joined the army and stayed in Marion, gone to college, gotten a job there, and lived there the rest of my life, the way many of the people I grew up with ended up doing. Perhaps, but I'm glad I will never know, because the path I did opt to take has been an incredible ride, and will, I hope, continue for many more years to come!

December 30, 2009 - one day left...

Well, here it is, the day before New Year's Eve. We spent the afternoon at Starbucks sipping our drinks and reading. It was mostly cloudy and cold today, so it was a nice day to do that. We might even do it again tomorrow...

Weather forecast is calling for a warmup into the fifties and rain for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Then it will turn cold once again. I was hoping for snow, but I don't think we will have anymore this winter. It looks like it may be cold, but I think it will be dry as well. We had a really wet November and December, so I wouldn't be surprised.

On the other hand, my son in Maine is saying they are expecting snow from a storm that is due to start Friday and run through Sunday. If is does happen, he said they would measure the result in feet, not inches. Unfortunately, he found out why the people they bought the house from left the snowblower behind... It doesn't work anymore!

We survived the first snow in good fashion, which is why it wouldn't bother me if we had another storm or two this year. Only, this time, I wish it would snow during the day instead of during the night when I'm asleep. I like watching it fall. It's nice and white, and quiet, usually.

We took one of our granddaughters to the movie yesterday. We had a great time and enjoy getting to spend some time with her. It won't be long before she'll be so busy in her own life we'll be an afterthought. The movie we saw was Alvin and the Chipmunks... It was cute, I guess, and the special effects in those movies are amazing. However, I can't say any chipmunk I've ever seen was the size of a large squirrel, but hey, details, details.

I began working on a new short story yesterday. Don't know what I'll do with it after I write it. Maybe a contest, maybe submit for sale. I have another one I want to write as well, and want to do that before I start going through my book again for another pass before sending to a possible publisher.

Ah! I am SOOOOO glad I don't have to go back to work after the holidays!

I saw a bit on TV where they can now teach people to be happy. Amazing! I find it interesting people need to be taught to be happy. I guess they don't learn that from their social networking or games they play on the computer.

I also saw where they are experimenting with game like devices to teach in the first grade. The children using these don't need to be taught how to use the device as it is just like the mindless video games devices they have their little faces glued to most of the time anyway. The teachers using them say the children's test scores have improved quite a bit. I guess the children feel they can gain some local fame by scoring big that way. It will be interesting to see what the retention is during the following years. If it works, and they actually learn to think as well as learn, I'm all for it. If they become more like robots and are powerless unless they have one of these devices in their hands, then I guess the government will consider them a success. Pop out the battery, and you have a robotic slave who will do anything they are told...

Many years ago I was at a seminar on databases outside of Miami. While having dinner one evening after a session, I began to talk with another man. I made a comment that I seriously felt that the use of calculators in grade school through sophomore year in high school was wrong, as the students needed to learn to use the calculator they had between their ears. Boy! This guy went off on that. I think he must have been a calculator salesman or something.

Well, on that note, I will leave you, whoever you are. I have no way of knowing if anybody is reading this or not, but I'll keep writing anyway. Good practice!