Don’t I wish!! At work I have a Major project again or is that still. I need a break!!! I’ve scheduled time off between Christmas and New Years, but that is still over 1 month away. Oh what fun.

Time…. If I could save time in a bottle, and words could make wishes come true… (Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle”) Again, something I would wish for. Just a little more time.

Longer… Longer than there’ve been stars up in the heavens… (Dan Fogelberg “Longer”) Yep, longer than that and still.

Day… One more day, one more time, one more sunset, maybe I’d be satisfied (Diamond Rio “One More Day”) But then again….

Life… I know I’ll often stop and think about them, In my life I love you more (Lennon/McCartney “In my life) Like now maybe?

Sanity… I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell. I know right now you can’t tell (Matchbox 20 “Unwell”)
Sometimes life just goes that way.

Reminiscing … The memories come along Older times we’re missing Spending the hours reminiscing (Little River Band “Reminiscing”) Yep, been doing a lot of that.

Why all the songs. Many with special meanings to me, some I just like the words, but today they all project just a little bit of what I am thinking. Much easier sometimes to use the words of others, when they match your thoughts.

I’ve been having some problem with my laptop’s battery. The life I expected just wasn’t there. I would like to be able to take my laptop places, sit down for an hour or two, get some work done, or just browse the net. Battery life has been under 1 hour. Sad really. You buy a laptop so you can have freedom to use the computer where and when you want, but you are then limited to finding a electrical outlet to work.

Well, to ease that situation, I was able to get a longer lasting battery (I hope). I’ve been running on battery power alone for about 20 minutes now. Taking the battery down to 0 will allow my computer to have a better indication of remaining battery life. Right now it says I have over 2 hours remaining. We will see.

still going…
Update when the battery runs out.

The song would continue “is like being nowhere at all.” Today I spent the evening in Toledo, actually the Suburb of Maumee and I had a wonderful time. Spent the evening with a large group of my daughter’s friends. Went out to eat a great Restaurant, when to her house and played some group games. All around fun for the evening.

This was a bit of a change from my reflective evening yesterday. We had such a large group at the restaurant that we were asked what the occasion was. Welll the occasion was that it was Saturday. Fellowship, food, drink were all enjoyed.

Just getting into my relaxing phase. I do tend to psych myself up for long drives in the evening, and it takes me a bit to unwind to fall asleep.

Night folks

There are times I spend contemplating the past. I’ve done this most of my life. Quiet reflection on the things I’ve done, the things I’ve seen others do, what I could change, what I can’t. Pondering the what ifs in life.

Then things happen, and I stopped doing this for a time. Contemplating the past was, to say the least, painful. Too many things happened in too short of time. The what ifs in life were overwhelming.

It took a long time to get to the point when I could look backwards without dwelling on those what ifs. But recently the what ifs have crept their way back in. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it has something to do with the turning of the calendar, but also with the weather this year. There were days in 2003, late October, early November when I was taking Sarah to this Doctor or that specialist that were unseasonably warm. Nobody knew what was wrong. The weather later turned cold, as Novembers will, and the bottom dropped out. A week before Thanksgiving we knew it was cancer. That date, that day is in a few short weeks. Sobering thought that. As with the early months of 2004, I now wonder what if.

Writing this help to clear my mind, as I so aptly put on my page header. The what ifs aren’t so pressing. A futile wandering of a tired mind, that sorely misses its best part and partner.

remember your recipe for gravy.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Usually a time to spend eating too much and watching football. I’m kind of wondering about that this year. The two games played on Thanksgiving usually feature the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. This year is no exception. I realize that nobody was saying the Lions would be 0 and 8, or that Dallas would be 5 and 4, but isn’t it time for the NFL to give these two prime football slots to different teams? What kind of deal did the Lions and Cowboys make? Kind of wondering is there a college game on? How about the NBA? NHL? I don’t think I’ll be watching the Lions. Maybe the Cowboys, we’ll see if they start playing football again when Romo gets back in. The Lions haven’t played much football this year, I don’t expect them to start any time soon.

Unless someone else does it first I’m going to try to find out about the NFL Lions Cowboys deal.

Following a trail through the woods, you come to a place where you need to choose a direction. Which way do you go. If you are lucky you are following a marked path and there are arrows to point you in the proper direction. They give information on what lies ahead. If you are on an unmarked path, maybe you can get your bearings from the sun or a compass. But what if you don’t have any of these things to guide you? What do you do? How do you find your way?

In a way, this is exactly what goes on in life. You follow a path. Sometimes you have directions, or a guide. Sometimes you have knowledge of the trail. Sometimes the ability to work things out. Sometimes you are lost. Sometimes the decision is too difficult to make and you a stuck, stranded and not capable of make the choice. There are times when you go back the way you came, because the path was blocked.

Without getting too deep into the religious and philosophical ramifications, there are many guides in life. Religion/God is one aspect. Friends and Family can also guide you. Your parents were your guides during the beginning of you journey. School and life’s hard knocks give you knowledge and ability on your travels. But there are times when you feel lost, alone and stranded. How do you make the choice of direction.

Where is this going? What direction? None really. Just pausing to reflect on choices made, paths followed, backtracks taken, and the long journey itself.

I heard today that author and screen writer Michael Crichton died Tuesday.

I did like the movies based on his books (at least the ones I saw), but I really enjoyed the books. Especially the Jurassic Park books. His books kept me on the edge for the entire read. So much better than the movies. I think that is because my imagination is so much more creative than any digital or Hollywood effect.

Another loss in the creative world.

I have been disappointed in the selection of Television shows for many years now. Even when you add cable selections, the choice of what to watch is rather limited. I have not gotten into any reality show. If I had my choice those would be taken off the air forever. But it seems like most people like them and they do have a large following. Current crop of comedies, you can have those too. I haven’t watched any of those either. Dramas, boring. Even though I liked CSI and Law and Order when they first came out (in all flavors), I’ve grown tired of them also. I watch a few for the remaining actors on them. If and when they go, well I won’t watch those shows either. I cut my television watching down to 4.5 shows a week. The .5 I only watch because it comes before another show I like. That’s 4.5 hours of Television a week. 3.5 hours coming in two nights. This doesn’t count the occasional sporting event. I don’t plan my days around football on Saturday or Sunday, and I can’t say I watched much baseball this year.

If I had cable, I might watch a few other shows. Especially if I could get some of my old favorite series. I’m not sure if television was better in my youth, but I do remember a few shows that I really liked. Some of them don’t survive the test of time. The Six Million Dollar Man and Knight Rider just don’t have the same kick anymore. Some of the comedies I used to watch just seem stupid today. I’m really not sure what I saw in them.

The shows that I’ve seen recently that have stood the test of time for me are

1. MASH — I’ve seen all the shows at least twice each, and I will still watch if I see it on.
2. All in the Family — At least the early years. Some of the later years, I just couldn’t get into.
3. Star Trek — Pick any of the (except Deep Space Nine) I like Trek.
4. Columbo — Peter Falk was just great in that role.
5. MacGyver — Yep, just saw this on the internet to down load. The hair styles, clothes and cars are a bit out of date, but the MacGyverisms pure fun.

That’s it, for now. I can now check out the internet for many of my old favorites, so this list may not be complete.

Through the quirky way our calendar is set up, the leap day pushed every day following it up one day in the week. Now most people won’t notice this too much, but since we had two leap years since 2003, the dates of this year (after the 29th of February) fall on exactly the same day of the week as 2003.

I’ve noticed those days. Dates and days etched forever in my mind from 2003, are now falling back on the days they occurred. The warm days of this early November remind me again of the fall days in 2003.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years will all be on the same day as 2003. And Dec 30th will again fall on a Tuesday.

The logical person I am, knew that this year would happen. The emotions tied to those dates and days is something I didn’t prepare for.

Forever loved, forever in my mind SJO 7/19/1962 – 12/30/2003. A life too short…

Before Mystery Theater, before Elvira, there were other hosts of the ‘B’ horror movies. The one I was most familiar with ran his show on Saturday afternoons for 15 years. We would sometimes have to go out and adjust the antenna to pick up the station. It never came in very good, but then again we were trying to pick up a TV station over 60 miles away. The station was Channel 2 out of Detroit Michigan. The host of the show, the one, the only Sir Graves Ghastly.

I can remember spending many a Saturday afternoon watch things like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman or Them!. Or any other show about sinister spacemen, Giant killer beasts, angry mutated humans, the living dead or cursed half-man/half-animal combinations.

Most of these show had poor story lines, bad acting and fake looking sets/monsters. Most were done on a low budget. They were released in the theaters/drive-ins as the second feature or ‘B’ Movie. They were played on late night TV for years, or in my case Saturday Afternoon.

Sir Graves made fun of the movies, fun of himself and just made the best afternoon of television. So now I get to watch some of these old ‘B’ movies on my computer, and I remember Saturday afternoons with Sir Graves.

Happy Haunting….