Material girl

Over the past year I have become more and more aware of "U-Store" units. They are popping up everywhere--within 2 to 3 miles of each other. Is this a reflection of all those divorced people who don't want to give up their stuff when they lose their homes? Is this due to those homeless folks who still can afford a rental unit for the stuff that reflects their life? I know that some of this storage is for people with hobbies or equipment for their jobs. Maybe this is a reflection of how many young men and women are now overseas in the "war" and storing stuff till they return. I think most likely it reflects the fact that we have too too too much stuff in our lives and our lives are disrupted too often. My brother married a few years ago (for the first time in his 50's), and of course, he had a ton of stuff from his home and melded with her home they are now storing a home's worth of furniture. The problem is that the furniture is depreciating while the cost of storing it is not.

When we sold our house and moved into this rental, we used a u-store for a few months until we sold, gave away or threw away a lot of stuff. Then we cleaned out the rental garage and stored what didn't need climate control in the garage and then put the rest of the stuff in boxes in the basement. We are now moving into year two of our rental house and haven't even opened these boxes once.

I read a book called "Simplify Your Life" by Elaine St. James. It is one of those Hallmark type books that you read in the bathroom. One of the author's suggestions to begin uncluttering your life is to pack some items in a box that you haven't used in a long while. Label the box with the date. After a year, if you haven't been looking for anything or used anything in the box, throw it away! Don't open it, just toss it. It makes a lot of sense to me. (Actually why not auction it off?) The u-store manager told me that is what they do when people fall behind on their rent of the storage unit. He opens the door, lets people look at what is inside, andt hen takes bids.

When I move to this new house (if we can ever find a design we can afford) I hope to try to live more Zen. Open spaces, useful activities, and less catalog purchasing. Of course today it is more Internet purchasing, since you can buy ANYTHING you want over the net.

I'm back...yawn...

Got in at 6:30 this morning on the red eye. Boarded last night at 11:00 PM and since the flight was a little over 4 hours, I was a zombie at the airport trying to find my car. Sun wasn't up yet here on the East coast. I had a late dinner on the waterfront last night with colleagues and probably drank a little too much wine.

Weather in Seattle was very similar to here actually. Nice and sunny there with a little rain, but the nights were much colder there. It was below 40 in the morning and we were in the 50's here before the sun showed its head.

About 30 people attended the meeting, all with professional and good things to say about the whole program. I would love to see those who are prejudiced against government bureaucrats attend just one of these meetings to see how professional and intelligent government workers actually are! These people are passionate about their research and their programs, but they are also realistic and many are quite inventive in stretching budgets. But, realism also takes us to the place where we fully understand this program is going to end with a whimper if we have to face another year of cuts. I don't want to get into too much detail...but I do feel American citizens will regret not funding this type of program in the future---as they will find with all the cuts in sciences we are getting. Research and education money creates a citizenry that can think outside the box when it comes to conflict. (Sort of the opposite side of the brain from the Ann Coulter baseball bat thinking.)

Toured the Pike Market on the waterfront and saw the space needle. It was my first time there. The flower stalls were wonderful and cheap and the 'tossing of the fish' was fun and very New York I thought. Saw the first Starbucks--but it only had one small sign to let you know. Bought a glass turtle to add to my collection and went in to some of the more 'interesting' stores with a friend who is a little edgier than I am.

Off to Seattle

I am catching a 7:30 AM flight to Seattle tomorrow. I have grown tired of business travel and am glad that I do it only a few times a year these days. This meeting is to introduce new people to my program and to justify my existence.

Our program funding is being cut and I may be doing something different in a year or so. I am lucky in that I have a federal job...so it doesn't involve loss of income...just loss of pride.

I get so tired of energizing an audience!

"A place to pray and meditate and to experience peace of mind as well as of body."

Took this picture in front of El Santuario de Chimayo, the Lourdes of America which is north of Sante Fe NM. Never found any woodcarved popsicles inside... I did buy a rusted tin cross which was made from the roof of the older chapel. Never one to short change my chances in this cosmic world.

Back home

Wedding was low key and intimate. Bride and groom exchanged heartfelt personal vows. Everyone cried...made some of the old timers remember why they got married!

New Mexico is a hotbed of political activity due to its support for both Presidential candidates. I hestitated watching any television because the political ads were so scathing and irritating--on both sides. Everyone I talked to in N.M. was sick of the whole thing.

Had breakfast at a local Starbucks and John Kerry's sister Peggy Kerry was next to us. Chatted with her for a brief time. She looked upbeat but also tired. She was on crutches due to a fall and damaged knee the week before.

Took a tour of a Native American village and our guide said that Hillary Clinton had been there just a few days before and ended up donating $75,000 to their cultural center building. These politicos are EVERYWHERE. I am guessing that we are NOT going to know who won on November 3rd.

Going to a Wedding

We are flying out at 6:00 this evening and heading West to attend my (step) nephew's wedding. We have never met him, although we have met his younger brother and we were lucky enough to meet up with his lovely bride-to-be in Italy a few years ago. We spent a few days touring with her. She is one of those generous spirits with a community service drive. This spirit shows in her smile.

I will get to see all my brothers and sisters again, but it will be somewhat rushed as they are leaving the day after the wedding. Last time it was rushed because they were remodeling the bathroom to my parents' house. I wonder when our lives will ever slow down to just visit! They all live within 30-40 minutes of each other so get together for holidays, long weekends, etc. I am still the black sheep living so far away. I am also the oldest so I have that "leader" image to live down. I mean when some are in diapers and you are 13, of course you are going to be telling them what to do! (Do I sound wistful?) Actually, I think they were relieved when I took over at my sister funeral.

I get back for just a few days at work on Wednesday and then the following Monday I have a business trip to Seattle. I really find myself wanting to just be a homebody more and more these days. Looking forward to part-time work in a year or so as I wind down to retirement. There is a whole creative side to my life that I have had to put on the shelf. I feel the 'me' time is coming soon.

Happy scary Halloween! I have always enjoyed Halloween, making the costumes, scaring the kids and eating all the candy they don't eat. I haven't even started to decorate the house and I am gone all weekend at a wedding. Maybe next week. I still need to buy candy! The picture above was a lovely old barn I took on a hike on Sunday. I tweaked with the software and it looks spooky, no?

Do I still live in America?

My husband was listening to NPR this morning as we are getting a late start on our day. He said there was a news report about President Bush's crew screening high school students (at their own school!) who came to hear him talk. Those who had Kerry buttons, etc. were turned away...some in tears. I haven't been able to find this on the NPR site...but will keep looking.

Halloween Art/Decoration/whateva!!

My co-evolved Halloween decoration...or is this a joint work of art?

Co-evolution

I just read the "My world and Welcome to It" blog (the javascript doesn't seem to be working so it can be found at: http://www.welcomemyworld.blogspot.com/).

Anyway, one of the blogs was about the surprising suicide of someone in the community and then a response from someone else outside the blog about that death as it related to their very personal experience. This 'outside' person was surfing looking for a recipe!

This all just got me thinking about co-evolution of man and things. I have just finished reading Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan about the co-evolution of man and plants. The author takes apples, tulips, marijuana and potatoes and makes some very interesting conclusions based on how a plant might look at us and how we evolved.

This becomes even more interesting when I think about man and the co-evolution with the Internet. From the above observation on the blog it seems to contradict the image of everyone sitting at home lurking and instead brings strangers with common views, experiences, etc together. But is this in a very superficial way? Or are there more intimate connections going on and a sharing of ideas more in depth than we can imagine...or hope for? And does this mean a paradigm shift in our co-evolution?

Such a lovely time of the year!

You get what you pay for?

Our secretary is out recovering from surgery, and prior to her departure, her poor health left us with a backlog of filing and clerical work. We have contracted through a temp agency for someone at a low clerical salary. The contract is for three weeks and the work consists primarily of filing and sorting a years’ back-log of materials. While it is not an easy initial job, once the process is understood, it is a straight-forward job. The woman we have recently hired for the temporary work ‘drifts’ in between 8:30 and 9:30 each morning and clearly has the energy of a slug. She doesn’t move from the chair at her desk except to go to lunch and after three days I have only seen her open one file drawer…the one that she can reach without getting up from her chair! This is frequently the quality of worker we get in the government when we hire clerical temp support. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just hire some graduate student or even an unemployed PhD. and pay them their going rate? The work would have been done in a few days and certainly with accuracy and probably cost the same as the three weeks wages we are putting out. And all we had to allow was some time for serious networking for the professional. Tell me why this wouldn’t work!

You don't have mail.

I really like getting mail, email, all types of communication, except for the phone calls. Weird, I think. Most people don't respond to my emails as often or as fast as I would like.

I am trying to touch base with my sister's kids by email. They are teenagers and live on the opposite coast, so I can't see them as much as I would like to. My sister died of cancer two years ago and they are going through something I never had to. I want to be there for them, but while I occasionally get polite emails back, I can wait forever for a response. I wonder if it is because I remind them of their mother and then of her death?

Let’s keep Tiger Woods happy whatever we do!

Imagine hiking in the beautiful Cascade mountains and all you see for miles is a lawn that looks like a golf course. Beautiful, no? Monsanto’s bent grass which is resistant to Roundup (also a Monsanto product) has been identified as far away as 13 miles from the test farm in Oregon.

All of you golfers notwithstanding—do we have our priorities straight here?

Critical Thinking- Lesson One

I am the type of person who reads two or three books at one time and also squeezes in a bunch of magazines and newspapers...but I have finally started Browne and Keeley's "Asking the Right Questions," which I wrote about in a prior blog.

My first skill to learn will concern being dispassionate. 'Emotional involvement should not be the primary basis for accepting or rejecting a position.' Unfortunately, the issues, ideas and problems that most deserve critical thinking - as I see it- are those for which we have some passion. This is going to be a difficult lesson...but I will work on it.

I think I will start with the issue of determining race. Since I am corresponding with another blogger who is researching this very issue, I will have something to work with.

Who moved the earth?

Discover magazine has an interesting mini-article about the processes of geologic reformation based on natural activities and human activities. Geomorphologist Roger Hooke of the University of Maine estimates that people shift up to 45,000 tons of earths dry surface each year! Over the last 5,000 years we have moved the equivalent of a mountain rainge 13,000 feet high and 60 miles long!!!

We really don't live in harmony with nature--do we?

Keeping an eye on the eye

According to an Associated Press writer:

“Marc Oliver, 38, rode out the storm with his family in Mobile. Oliver boarded up his windows of his brick home and spent the night with his wife, 7-year-old son and brother-in-law, Robert Driver, moving from room to room as the winds shifted.

"The good lord was looking out for us," Driver said.”

And further down the story…

“Two people were killed and more than 200 homes were damaged when at least five tornadoes roared through Florida's Bay County. Five people were killed when another tornado struck homes in Blountstown, Fla., and an 8-year-old girl died after being crushed by a tree that fell onto her mobile home in Milton, Fla. Her parents were unharmed.”

I guess ‘the good lord’ can’t keep his eye on everyone and everything…

It is pre-determined which candidate I will vote for!

I cannot deny my destiny....according to an article by Mr. Brooks:

" Ruling Class War "(subscription?)

*By DAVID BROOKS*

Published: September 11, 2004 in the New York Times

There are two sorts of people in the information-age elite, spreadsheet people and paragraph people. Spreadsheet people work with numbers, wear loafers and support Republicans. Paragraph people work with prose, don't shine their shoes as often as they should and back Democrats.

C.E.O.'s are classic spreadsheet people. According to a sample gathered by PoliticalMoneyLine in July, the number of C.E.O.'s donating funds to Bush's campaign is five times the number donating to Kerry's.

Professors, on the other hand, are classic paragraph people and lean Democratic. Eleven academics gave to the Kerry campaign for every 1 who gave to Bush's. Actors like paragraphs, too, albeit short ones. Almost 18 actors gave to Kerry for every 1 who gave to Bush. For self-described authors, the ratio was about 36 to 1. Among journalists, there were 93 Kerry donors for every Bush donor. For librarians, who must like Faulknerian, sprawling paragraphs, the ratio of Kerry to Bush donations was a whopping 223 to 1.

Laura Bush has a lot of work to do in shoring up her base.

Data from the Center for Responsive Politics allows us to probe the emerging class alignments, but the pattern is the same. Number people and word people are moving apart.

Accountants, whose relationship with numbers verges on the erotic, are now heavily Republican. Back in the early 1990's, accountants gave mostly to Democrats, but now they give twice as much to the party of Lincoln. Similarly, in the early 1990's, bankers gave equally to the two parties. Now they give mostly to Republicans, though one notices that employees at big banks, like Citigroup and Bank of America, are more likely to give to Democrats.

But lawyers - people who didn't realize that they wanted to be novelists until their student loan burdens were already too heavy - are shifting the other way. This year, lawyers gave about $81 million to Democrats and about $31 million to Republicans.

Media types are Democratic, of course, but one is dismayed to learn that two-thirds of employee donations at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation went to Democrats. Whatever happened to company loyalty?

If you look at the big Kerry donors, you realize that the days of the starving intellectual are over. University of California employees make up the single biggest block of Kerry donors and Harvard employees are second, topping folks from Goldman Sachs and others in the supposedly sell-out/big-money professions.

Academics have had such an impact on the Democratic donor base because there is less intellectual diversity in academia than in any other profession. All but 1 percent of the campaign donations made by employees of William & Mary College went to Democrats. In the Harvard crowd, Democrats got 96 percent of the dollars. At M.I.T., it was 94 percent. Yale is a beacon of freethinking by comparison; 8 percent of its employee donations went to Republicans.

It should be noted there are some professions that span the spreadsheet-people/paragraph-people divide. For example, lobbyists give equally to both parties. (Could it possibly be that lobbyists don't have principles?) And casino people split their giving, with employees at Harrah's giving mostly to Democrats and employees at MGM Mirage giving mostly to Republicans.

Why have the class alignments shaken out as they have? There are a couple of theories. First there is the intellectual affiliation theory. Numerate people take comfort in the false clarity that numbers imply, and so also admire Bush's speaking style. Paragraph people, meanwhile, relate to the postmodern, post-Cartesian, deconstructionist, co-directional ambiguity of Kerry's Iraq policy.

I subscribe, however, to the mondo-neo-Marxist theory of information-age class conflict. According to this view, people who majored in liberal arts subjects like English and history naturally loathe people who majored in econ, business and the other "hard" fields. This loathing turns political in adult life and explains just about everything you need to know about political conflict today.

It should be added that not everybody fits predictably into the political camp indicated by a profession. I myself am thinking of founding the Class Traitors Association, made up of conservative writers, liberal accountants and other people so filled with self-loathing that they ally politically with social and cultural rivals.

Class traitors of the word, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your friends - and a world to gain!

Blogging my way through New York City

I find this site kind of spooky. " A map of the city that shows where the bloggers are, organized by subway stop. Find out who's blogging in your neighborhood!" NYC bloggers
It lists the bloggers location as well as the actual link to the blog site. People have to submit the form to get on this map...am I the only one that this makes nervous? At least they do no give out the emails.

Comment from a former girlie-man

Keven (whomever he is...says it so much better than I.)

"If we want leaders with strong convictions and nothing else, we should elect only college sophomores who are halfway through reading The Fountainhead."

Second-class customers

I subscribe to a magazine called 'Budget Travel.' Erik Torkells, the editor, wrote an interesting article in the October 2004 issue about getting a good deal from Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. He said that a comment from a sales person from an upscale New York hotel at a conference indicated that her upscale hotel treats customers who book through a third-party website worse than the other guests who pay full fare! Erik had heard rumors of this but, since he couldn't verify, he ignored them.

Well, it appears they are somewhat true. He went on to say that if we are going to be treated as second-class customers they should let us know in advance. I tend to agree. Today's budget customer might be tomorrow's travel maven for a company or someone who moves in big circles but likes to budget when traveling on their own.

Why, in these times, would anyone treat any customer any differently than any other? VERY shortsighted.

"The Legacy System from Hell that holds civilization hostage."

The Long Now has a good discussion about the future and preservation of our heritage. This whole discussion in the news this week about the minute reasons that the 'discovered' memos in GWB's military file are or are not valid may be discussions that we won't even have in the future.

A thousand years from now, we may not be able to resurrect anything of historical significance about our presidential candidates much less determine the validity...

Blog demographics

I just surfed a bunch of blog sites and am slowly getting an idea about this new wave of communication. Lots of blogs from Asia, lots of blogs from hormone driven young people globally, lots of blogs from gays folks who like to communicate, some blogs from people with problems and than smatterings of other blogger demographics. Of course there were a few weird sites and some pornography...if that gets to be too large a percentage maybe Blogger is going to have to do something.

I found a subject index to blogs when I googled "blog sites" and marked a few of the baby boomer generational ones. I also found some younger blogs that have some very interesting things to say and I bookmarked those as well. This whole phenomenon is really nice in that it allows us old folks to be 'dogs' on the web and participate in conversations that are not normally part of our life events.

I found a few conservative bloggers but most seemed to be liberal--which in itself is interesting. What does that tell me about the two groups--liberal and conservative? One likes to communicate and one doesn't? One is more lonely than the other and doesn't have people to listen to its ideas and uses the anonymous technology? One group has a life and the other doesn't? One group likes technology and its change and the other doesn't? Interesting....

I miss the dog

As we enter fall and the crisp weather that makes me want to be outside more, I find that I miss our old dog who passed away a number of years ago. We are in transition in terms of where we live the next year or so and, as a result, cannot have a dog.

Dogs are the best tranquilizer because they are happy all the time and they never hold a grudge (unless you are a mean S.O.B.) They also make you get out of the house and exercise. If you work with them, they become better than human because they can read your mind and really observe your body language and unlike most of the people you spend time with, they actually want to please you.

They also keep you in touch with the fact that you, like them, are a biological animal. Maybe I will visit my friend next week who has some golden lab puppies and just play with them!

Let's see... if Bush was a dog what type would he be? If Kerry was a dog...?

back from the 40th reunion

Yes, it was like chelation therapy--or what I think that might have been like. Yes it was like eating your broccoli...good for you, but not good.

Everyone is so much older and more haggard than the reunion 10 years ago. Many look like recovering alchoholics. Some are. Others are just hard working dudes that life kept throwing curves and they are tired. We sat and renewed old memories, but it wasn't as funny as the 30th. I did not graduate with happy people--except for a few.

The ex-boyfriend is really still nice--but wanted to take me on ANOTHER tour of the house. This house is now remodeled and worth at least 1.5 million. I mean two gourmet kitchens--when you don't cook! WHY does he still think he needs to impress me! What big hole in his life is not getting filled? His wife is a stepford type--but without the sweet smile.

Did get to play with some grandchildren that people brought and little ones always mean there can be a brighter tomorrow.

Kept meeting liberals the whole trip. My son has a theory about that...will fill that in later.

Wegrets, ugrets, all god's children got grets.

Well, just got off the phone with my ex-boyfriend (remember this was decades ago--so he is really an EX.) Anyway, most of my past friends think he is a dork and actually he is still kind of cute in a dorky way. We got to talking about philosophy and class reunions...as old people do...and he said when I get there he wanted to tell me about some seminar he was dragged to by his wife that was really fun and funny and meaningful about people and their pasts. I can hardly wait...ugh!

This little spontaneous suggestion was because I said that I really didn't look forward to class reunions because I never looked back. I was afraid what I was running from would catch up. Also, I had lots of regrets in my life (who doesn't--if they say they have no regrets they are liars) and since I couldn't change things the regrets weren't really useful to me.

Oh well, I am packing my camouflage outfits and I am leaving on a jet plane (yes a song from my youth) and will be arriving in Colorado tomorrow afternoon. Should be an really interesting Labor Day weekend!

Two ships that pass in the night.

The intro to this snippet is an anecdote about a boat trip I took this weekend with an old friend who is 'up there' in the FDA hierarchy. During our conversation, he mentioned that the "problem with education these days is students are not given enough education on critical thinking skills." (Anyone who saw the speeches by those cute Bush daughters would certainly agree with that.) So, that statement motivated me to check Amazon for used books on critical thinking skills--I sure could use a review!

Got home tonight and didn't see that package I expected in the mail, and went to the front porch to see if it had been dropped off. Nope, not there. I mentioned to dear hubby that I was expecting some books on critical thinking skills. He looked blank and then looked out at the porch and said he was expecting a package also. A package with oyster nets in it! (He is an office scientist -- not an oysterman.)

Are these ships drifting apart???

Indecision

For those of you who are still undecided about this presidential election, you must get down off that fence before you fall and hurt yourself. It is really fairly simple...ask yourself the following questions.

Is the world black and white or sometimes gray?
Is the road straight or sometimes curvy?
Is there only good and evil in this world or something that is marked 'other?'
Is a quick decision better than a thought process that may make you change your mind?
Does violence lead to more violence or end violence? (If it ends violence--when exactly does that occur?)
Is change good or bad or both?
Does God pick sides when watching mankind and its wars?
and finally
Does your feminine side ever embarrass you or is it your masculine side?

Now go forth and vote!

The Petrified Forest

I am really old and getting older. I can not bare to watch the TV shows that are so popular today. I am not writing about the 'reality' shows, I am writing about those monotonous, saccharin, shows of love and sex and heartbreak and new love and new sex and more heartbreak. These plots used to be left to afternoon soaps where bored housewives could get some escape from housework and diapers and baby babel.

Young attractive people look at each and stumble through primitive dialogue as if they were just learning to talk. They are introspective to the point of disappearing! No one ever seems to have a good day for the entire day.

It is no wonder that the twenty-somethings think a job is just a paycheck and that they are marking time until something big and meaningful happens in their lives. Watching too much of this stuff can petrify any developing brain.

The house on the hill

Well, I just got back from the architects to pick up the revised blueprints for the retirement home. I have 7 copies in my hot little hands! 6 for the 6 contractors to bid on and one for us to dream and drool over.

This house has come about in a round peg square hole way. The lot that we finally found that met our needs and which we could afford was so narrow that the house could not be wider than 50 feet. That may sound wide enough but most pre-done plans don't even come close to this width. Pre-done or off-the-shelf has its problems, but we can't afford original work, so I spent months looking through magazines, the web and talking to people.

I finally found some plans on the Internet and purchased them with the authority to change to meet needs and codes. We have a friend who is an architect and he has been doing the tweaking for us. The house itself is "French country" and sort of looks like a New Orleans style with a cute front courtyard. Not at all the style of house I ever thought I would build...I am sort of a cape code type. Anyway, as we have spent the last year going over the floor plans and thinking about lifestyle, this house has grown on me. I am allowing myself to get a little excited now, as we send out the bid packages tomorrow.

Only a little excited because there is still the unknown issue of costs and all the headaches and compromises ahead. But for now I will pretend it is a straight road ahead.

My husband has already made friends with the neighbors at the new building site and is using their dock to hang some oyster cages. Why he is culturing these oysters, lord only knows...seems to be giving our neighbor something to fill time with though. I don't think I would eat any oysters cultured in these waters.

To blog or not to blog isn't even the question.

Found this article with lots of links on blogging. Some good quotes below:

Blogging: “… never have so many people written so much to be read by so few.” By KATIE HAFNER

"By Jupiter Research's estimate, only 4 percent of online users read blogs."

Ms. Quint has grown more understanding of his reasons, if not entirely sympathetic. "The Web's illusion of immortality is sometimes more attractive than actual cash," she said.

"I was trying to record all thoughts and speculations I deemed interesting," he said. "Sort of creating a digital alter ego. The obsession came from trying to capture as much as possible of the good stuff in my head in as high fidelity as possible."

Check out the article here for more on the above taken from footnotes at this site.

What happens when this blogsite is 'abandoned'?

Just one casual mistake and a lot of information can be lost. Two Ralph Waldo Emerson collections dating to the 1860s and other out-of-print gems are among the items a team of volunteers found while salvaging thousands of books from the former East St. Louis library that had been abandoned when the library moved.

Read all about it here.

The Class Reunion (we all dread.)

Talk about your milestones! I graduated from high school a loooong time ago. Last month I got invited to my 40th high school reunion. My class has these once a decade and I have made it to two of them. It was short notice and I really didn’t want to go since I will have to buy a plane ticket—most of the rest still live within driving distance. Some of us have died, some of us have cancer, one is getting out of jail, one is a “recovering” alcoholic (the genius of the class), and most of the rest are divorced. My class size was only 15!! I guess we were pretty dysfunctional. It was a small farming community with not much money and I guess this is what you get 4 decades later.

My best girlfriend (who is normal) and my ex-boyfriend (who is wealthy) from that time called begging me to come. Clearly when there are so few of us, each addition makes for a better party.

I am just so far away from that time and culture in my life. I know in my heart I will probably have a good time, but right now I cannot imagine what we will talk about. The “good old days” were about basketball games and “necking.” The biggest topic for my generation right now is this divisive election—don’t want to there.

Agenda: The first night is at a bar with the two old coaches watching a video tape of the game that sent the graduating class to the state basketball tournament. (A jock fest.) Then the next night is at a fancy French restaurant…been there and done that. And the next day is an afternoon picnic at my ex-boyfriend’s fancy house. It is going to be a long afternoon.

I love photography and this would be an appropriate time for me to bring my digital, so maybe that will help pass the time.

They're having a baby!

Well, it is still a secret, but my daughter informed us this past weekend, that she and her husband are now pregnant--they have been trying only since April--so they are lucky people. She calls 'it' Spec because that is what is looks like on the sonogram. Talk about your cliché milestone--this is the first grandchild for me and H.

When you get old you see very clearly how times have changed. When I was pregnant the sonogram was done only during the last trimester and for very specific reasons. There was some concern it could harm the fetus. Now she is getting them about every two weeks and then once a month! I hope these medical types know what they are doing.

While I am very excited, I am also well aware that this is going to bring a whole new dynamic to the family ring. She has agreed to raise the child Catholic and H. and I are not Catholics and actually pretty suspicious of all the mandates and rules surrounding the religion. (Let's hope that the baby is not wheat intolerant! Another Catholic issue.) I know that a decade from now this little one may ask why H. and I don't go to church and particularly why we don't go to Mass. I am not afraid of how or what I will say--I will welcome any honest discussion. But I hope that the others involved will not get all hyper about my response. My daughter D.'s in-laws are really nice people and actually seem relieved that we are not openly anti-Catholic. I guess Catholics have to defend themselves more often these days.

I actually ran Bible school at the local Methodist Church in the good old days, wanting to expose my children to Christianity so that they can make there own decisions in life. Now my son is an atheist like his father and my daughter believes in God--but doesn't seem to have any clear boundaries on who this God is. Me, I think I am drifting toward Buddhism.

Joiners

I was thinking how contradictory it is to say you are not a joiner and then join a blog site...Although joining a blog site is not exactly like joining a club or society. It is virtual in everyway. You can be you or someone else. Others can be themselves or someone else. You can have a conversation with just yourself or others, but you have no control over this. It is not like walking across a room and introducing yourself. Blogging is also not the same as volunteering to be on the committee. Others do not have a vested interest in your presence or lack thereof. Although there still is 'group think.'

The only time I joined things in the past was because I had children and I had a vested interest in their involvement in the activity. Sometimes I was a leader and sometimes just a workerbee. But I never really felt I belonged in any of it.

Now that I am approaching retirement and will have more free time, I am thinking that I should put energy toward some of the causes that I believe in. We'll see.

So thus the beginning.

Each life has milestones, some of which have become cliches. In this fastpaced society, I now realize that my milestones arrive more slowly and appear to have a mellow aura about them. I am looking forward to that pace. I have always been a hurry-up and correct it later type and probably always well be. But, I am now pushing 60 and enjoying the lack of deadlines and seriousness of my decisions.

Actually, it is more my lack of seriousness in approaching decisions these days. I do have many serious decisions to make. When am I going to retire? How am I going to approach the economic decisions for this retirement? How am I going to allocate the remaining hours, days, years of my life?

I am in the earliest process of building the (cliche) retirement/dream home. Something I never thought I would be able to do. Something that has come about due to living a little frugally and also due to living overseas almost a decade of my life, where my living expenses were paid by my employer.

I am married to a mellow guy who doesn't care much about the house--only that it is comfortable, is engineered for use of natural resources as much as possible, and is near the water so that he can fish! It is all of these.

So this site will be about that project as well as my pet peeves, my beliefs and my concerns about the world I live in. Large menu--hope that it can be digested!