February 2007

I haven't posted for a while now. This past week my wife and I celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary. To get a little peace and quiet for ourselves we took the local Best Westerns get a way package and stayed there two nights; we haven't had a chance like that in a long time to get away for the everyday hassle and to relax. There was also an indoor pool and hot tub etc.
I think we need to do that more often. At least until my grown sons finally decide to move out. . . . . . . . .

A Little Funk

I've been in a little bit of a funk lately. Sometimes life kind of gangs up on me. And to top it off my poor Bucaneers are in for another bad bad bad season. Well you may ask how an old guy from upstate NY comes to root for Tampa Bay Buc's . . . well I was born and raised in Tampa so I pull for their teams - there still is an emotional connection there.

I am on a new diabetes drug called Byetta and so far it is working very well. My numbers have been good and I've been able to stop taking two oral meds and cut my insulin by half.

Just Miscellaneous Thoughts

On August 19th we gave my mother in law her 90th birthday party. We had close to 60 people here plus children and had a great time. Some of her relatives came from Florida and California - it was amazing. Of course we spend about 3 days before the party cleaning and catching up the yard work to get ready.

My father was too lonely to be in the house without my mom so he asked to go to the rehab center/adult home he was in last year. So far he loves it to have company around to talk to. The grief from my mom's passing will not go away but at least this will help him some.

On the way home from work I listen to Focus On The Family most days (depending on their subject) and I really like it. If only we could all live lives the way they talk about it would be a much better world to live in; imagine peace and love instead of the increasing violence our world has.

Since My Last Post

Since my last post about a month ago my wife (Dot) and I had to make an emergency trip to Tampa; my mom passed away and my dad is 89 years old and pretty frail and actually we thought we had lost him last year but he rebounded thanks to God. My mom passing was quite a shock and I still have a hard time believing that it happened.

Our cute grandchildren are here tonight through Sunday night so things will be quite hectic. I have so much to do this weekend I don't know how I will get it all done. I have a lot of weeding in the front flower beds and trimming and planting some new plants we bought and cleaning up the junk in the garage and geeesh I am making myself tired.

We are finally getting some warm weather here in upstate NY and have gone almost a full day without rain - yay!

Focus On The Family

Lately I have been listening to a radio show coming home from work called "Focus On The Family" and on todays show they were talking about a game some kids today are playing called the "Choking Game" where they are choked until they pass out and when coming to they have a high euphoric felling like you get with drugs and alcohol. This game is addictive as the kids love that good felling and play the game more and more frequently. If they play it by themselves then they need some kind of a device to choke themselves. And the frightening part is that this game kills off thousands of brain cells everytime it is played and some kids develop problems such as loss of memory and seizures among other things. And there are some kids to die playing this game.

As a grandfather with two grandkids in the age group that play the game (10 to 15 is the largest group) it scares the heck out of me.

Old Horrors

Recently I saw a documentary on HBO called "Paperclips" about a school (from Whitwell Tennessee) project kids did about the Holocost and just watching that show and thinking about what those people went through in the death camps was overwhelming and once in a while I had tears running down my face.

This show reminded me of the book "Anne Franks Diary" which I have always wanted to read but have never gotten around to buying it; maybe my next good payday.

Coincidently my wife taped a show that was on Oprah about the Holocost and she interviewed a man who had survived it. It was very touching and frightening at the same time to think that some people are evil enough to do that to other people. Six million Jews were murdered and another Five million people for a total of Eleven million people were murdered in the death camps.

When I think of this I am reminded of a song / poem that Rod McKuen wrote and sang - it goes something like this "It makes me cry to see the things that some men do to one another".

Memorial Day

At church this morning we remembered thos who paid the ultimate price for protecting our freedom. Although I served during Viet Nam I wasn't in the front lines carrying a gun and I don't know first hand the horror of what those men went through. My prayers go out for them and their families.

My time in the Air Force was something I do not regret; it made me grow up real fast. And although I'm proud the bombs we loaded on the B-52's protected our ground troups I often wonder about those that our bombs killed. As a man who will not ever own a gun I oftem wonder about that and I pray that our bombs never killed any innocent civilians.

If the whole world were to come to Jesus Christ we would not need any more wars or guns or anger. I guess evil will always be in the world I just pray that we are strong enough to stand up against it.

Life - Am I Lost Or What

I used to think that if I kept plodding away that somehow someday things would get better or easier. I don't think that anymore, as I think about everything going on in my life I get very overwhelmed and just don't know what to do about them. I do try to keep a smile on my face and make jokes whenever I can but somedays I just get withdrawn and moody as I brood over things. I wonder if it is too late for me to run away and join the circus?

Cell Phones and Driving

When NY passed the hands free cell phone law I was against it and thought it was a total waste. But lately I have noticed in my travels to and from work that when someone does something incredibly stupid and dangerous that 99 per cent of the time they are on a cell phone. Of course I believe the key is not in being hands free but the fact that they are not paying attention to what they are doing.

And Now It's May

Well here it is May; I missed posting for the whole month of April.. . . . oh well thats life. April was both my sons and my birthday - I decided to keep holding at 39 again.

Several weeks ago I joined the church I had been going to "United Church of Cohoes" - it is a Presbyterian church. Since I grew up in a Presbyterian church it is a good fit although it is a bit more charasmatic than I thought I was comfortable with. But when I walk in I can feel the energy and love of the congregation.

I took a 3 day training course for work this week. It was on being a business analyst for software development. It is very interesting but good old NY decided to give it in downtown Albany where there is no parking except some paid lots nearby. I found out there is a residential area close by and left really early each day and cruised until someone left for work and then I took the spot and walked to the training building. I am really glad that is over.