Game night 1 of this weekend is finished. Played a couple of fun games, had some fun food (brownies are always good), and fun/good friends. We played/talked well into the early morning.

It was snowing and blowing in the area so I expected a treacherous drive on the way home. The roads were turning nasty on the way there, I only expected them to get worse. But since we didn’t have more than 2 or 3 more inches of snow, I thought I would be able to navigate all the roads roads I travel.

Not more than 1/2 mile outside of town, heading west, there was a car in the ditch being pulled out by a wrecker. I had to wait there for a while, since there was nowhere to back up and take a different route. Looks like I had to be a bit more cautious.

I finally headed off the main road and on to the back county road system. Drifts were piling up on the first North/South road I traveled on. Since it looked like they were straight across the road, I didn’t think I would have any trouble on the East/West roads. I was wrong, a bigger drift was on that road… Then an even bigger drift on the next North/South road. Obviously the wind was blowing in every direction.

Made it home in one piece. Happy I have the new tires on the truck. Happy I have good friends to talk to. Life while not perfect, for today it is good.

I was strolling around the internet (I don’t surf, that just goes too fast), and I found a few interesting things.

On this site, I found two t-shirts I liked. The first was with Bela Lugosi as Dracula holding the head of a more recent movie vampire (yes, just the head). The saying was “Dracula never sparkled.” Struck my sense of humor today. The other shirt on the same site was “Meat is Murder. Quick eat the evidence.” So today, I guess my humor is heading toward the violent stage. “Here’s Johnny.” 😈

Ok, I knew somebody had the list of what emoticons actually works here. Ok, I found them, thanks again Derek!! Why can’t all of the various chat area, blog sites, bulletin boards, social networks, ect. use the same symbols. Why do they work sometimes and not others. Even being a technical person by trade, I get sick of technology… 😡

Are we headed for a new form of the WWW? Kind of discussed this last night with a friend or few. Mostly about if Facebook would start charging for use. Currently that is just a malicious rumor floating around, but as was said in the conversation, Facebook and other sites like that need some cash to exist. Now this article is more about premium content, but I wonder what premium content is. I already pay for my web access, about as much as I would pay for Cable/Satellite TV, Cell Phone usage ect., so I wonder how much more this would eventually cost. Like most people in the middle class, my budget is strained from all angles. I don’t have pay TV for a number of reason, but one is I really don’t want to pay for TV.

If it ever comes to the point that I have to pay for TV, I’ll stop watching. I’ve said before there isn’t much I want to watch, so it doesn’t make any difference to me. I have internet access to keep up with friends, family, work and news of the day. I pay for that access to offset other areas I no longer use or pay for. If the outlets I use start charging me, on top of my access charge, I may stop using them. Unless I become independently wealthy. I can always go to the library to pick up newspapers and magazines. My taxes go to keep those organizations functioning, so I will use them. I can use other means to contact friends and family. But then as I said earlier, sometimes the technology bugs me….

In what may be a good use for Ebooks, I found this article. Textbooks that can be modified or commented on by the professors/teachers. Cool stuff. I remember in school carting around a lot of books. And then in college pay tons of money for lots of books. Of course the teachers would always comment or add to the material present in the book. This forced the student to carry even more. I like the idea of getting this all on an E-book level and allow the students to carry around less material. Save trees and backaches. Now if they would only come up with a way to make that stupid textbook cheaper.

One final note. I went to the oriental restaurant on Sunday with my daughter. My taste buds were so messed up, I left the fortune cookies in the truck. Since my taste returned today I ate the cookies. The first fortune I had was “Everything will now come your way.” The lucky numbers on this fortune just happened to be the birthdays (day of the month) of my four daughters, myself and my late wife. That is six numbers. The estimated jackpot for the Mega Millions jackpot is now 83 million for tonight’s drawing. I met my late wife in 1983… Is that a sign? I’m not sure I believe in stuff like that, but I bought the ticket anyway. I used my late wife’s birthday as the powerball and put the rest of the days in the regular numbers. One final little note: that combination of numbers never won the jackpot….

Every year my darling daughters ask me what I want for Christmas, birthday and Fathers’ day (or any other occasion where they feel the need to get me things), and every year I have more trouble coming up with things I want or need.

So I decided I would put it into words once and for all time. If you see one of my daughters, suggest that they read this. IF you are one of my daughters, pass this on to your sisters. If you don’t know or never see my daughters, maybe these words can be used in your life.

What I want most from anyone, especially my daughters, is the gift of time. This can be given in many ways. A call to tell me some special news in your day. Or a call just to say hi. Time spent putting together a project that you think I might like. Time spent with me doing something or nothing at all. I cherish all the moments I get to spend with those I love.

Time is something we never get back. Once gone it is gone forever, that is why I think that it is the best gift. It has no price, but immense value. You can not buy it, but you can give your time. It is a gift of the heart, and that my friends is a very good gift indeed.

To quote my last show (probably the only ‘good’ quote from the show) “Our time here on this earth is short, shorter than any of us can imagine.” And that it is, spend it wisely, but please spend some with me.

One line in a response pushed me to write this post. I don’t think I’ve written about it before, but I remember telling a friend or two, so if you’ve heard it before, just be patient with me.

Way back in 1997, somebody asked me for suggestions on shows for the play house to do. I was a rank newbie to the theater, but I gave a suggestion or two. The play at the top of my list was “Harvey”. It seems that the playhouse did this show before, and they were not ready to do it again. Year after year, I suggested that show. Finally, after a lot of persuasion, and maybe just to shut me up, the show was scheduled for some time in 2006. I tried out for the show and was given the lead role of Elwood Dowd. A dream come true for me. I would have done anything on that show just to be able to watch it, but I was able to be in it. I was thrilled.

One thing did put a damper on that. My lovely wife died in 2003 and would not be by my side during the rehearsals and production of this show. This was a bit of a stress for me during the early rehearsals of the show. Finally something changed. I needed some props for the show. One was the cards that Elwood was so fond of passing out, another a notebook of his favorite watering holes. And the third an billfold with some cash and other peoples calling cards. The little notebook, and many of the ‘calling’ cards belonged to my late wife. From that time on, I had a little bit of her on stage with me.

Then came my largest discovery. I was able to think of Harvey as my lovely wife standing on the footstool in the kitchen. This would have put her at the exact height needed for Harvey. So from the time of that thought, until the end of the run, every time I looked at Harvey on stage, I was peering into the eyes of my wife.

Many times she said she never wanted to be on stage. She never wanted any recognition for anything she did for the theater. She wanted to remain anonymous. Well except for in my eyes, she was never on the stage. Her name was not listed in the bios, but she was on stage with me for every performance. I gave my all to that show. I pushed myself farther than I ever thought I could. And every night I looked into the eyes of my wife, shared a drink or two and was finally able to say “Where have you been, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

No matter what comes after that show, all things pale when in that light.

Celebrating Christmas could include food, family, friends, and gifts. Additional Family traditions could have a mandatory attendance to a Christmas Eve Service.

Our family traditions have been ongoing since the day after Thanksgiving. That was when it was ‘allowed’ to start thinking about Christmas. We could start to break out the Christmas music, movies and decorations. The stockings were hung up, with care, by Dec 6th. Small gifts, some candy and maybe a bit of fresh fruit would fill the stocking. Usually a Christmas ornament would arrive in the stocking, and it could then be hung on the tree.

For the past few years, most traditions have gone by the wayside. As a family we would still hang up the stockings on 6th, small gifts would be placed there. The Decorations of the past just don’t make their appearance. Certain things still show up. We watch many versions of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. There are the many other Christmas movies. And as my children grow up and start their own lives, they get to start their own traditions.

Families expand and contract. Traditions come and go. To share life, love, troubles and sadness are ways to bypass all traditions. In that sharing we find peace and hope.

To you and yours in this season. May you find what you need and have what is required. Merry Christmas.

Just wondering where you are. Do you realize I’m writing about you? Are you one of my normal readers who hasn’t replied? Are you another blogger who hasn’t written anything in ages? What is going on? Do you know you are missed?

I’m just sitting here wondering about all the places I tend to visit. I’m also not a good one to make myself known on other sites. I slip in, read a bit, and then slip right out. Sometimes this is known as lurking. So yes, I lurk. There are times that something on other sites will peak my interest and I will respond. I should do it more often.

If I’ve visited your site in the past, and you visit mine, maybe we can just say hi. This is a place for others to say hi to me. I will try to return the favor.

Have a good holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year.

I read a short story yesterday in Sci-Fi collection I have. The story itself tied in with a famous work by another author and looked at the situation from a different angle. What stuck with me was a continued effort of the main character to figure out the origins of society. The whys and hows why we keep certain things and get rid of others. The eventual conclusion was that local communities influence what society, as a whole, deems important. For the Sci-Fi story, this was all scientifically modeled to produce a way to determine the eventual outcome of certain actions.

Now it is interesting to me that sociologists do not yet have an accepted definition of the word community. The standard is a local group with a common interest or location. For sociologists, this doesn’t help much. Today it is even more confusing. This is very easy to see, since we now have global communities, cyber communities or online communities. Of course, we still have local communities.

Then I started thinking of all the communities I have been a part of. Some have been a better influence than others. Some I still consider myself to be part of, others not so much. But do we ever really leave a community? I’ve run into people I grew up with, people who lived just down the street. Even those I don’t run into have been influenced, for good or bad, from any interactions with me. And the same thing goes for me. People I’ve met have changed my life. Those interactions influenced choices I’ve made. By making those choices, I’ve influenced others I’ve been in contact with. Somewhat sobering thought, things I’ve done may now be influencing people I’ve never met.

And, I am a part of a few cyber communities. One of those is this blog. I wonder how many people take my words and somehow fit them in there lives. Could it be a movie review that makes them look up a show? A post about books I’ve read sends someone to the library? Or maybe a recipe gets someone to the kitchen to make an old family favorite. It is fun just to think about.

Of course, the one part of the communities I belong to where I had the biggest influence was my own family. I spent more time with them than any other part of the community at large. For good or bad, they’ve had me in their lives. That was some fun.

I’m not quite sure what I will be doing on Thanksgiving except driving to Ft. Wayne in the afternoon so my youngest can take care of her kennel duty. I will be picking her up tomorrow afternoon and then driving back on Thursday. I’m not sure yet what I will have for dinner on Thanksgiving.

So Thanksgiving, of course, is a day to give thanks. This year wasn’t the best, but it did have some things to be thankful for.

There was an addition to my family when my 3rd daughter got married, and so I now have a 3rd son in the family.

During that time my second daughter and her family came up to Ohio to attend the wedding. I was able to schedule some time off and take them back to Florida. So I was able to spend some time with the part of the family I see the least.

My youngest started college and is doing well at school.

I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my oldest daughter this year.

And I have some wonderful friends who have been a comfort for the lousy times of this year.

Have a Happy and Save Thanksgiving.

Halloween missed me this year, or should I say I missed it. All of this actually started Thursday when I was not feeling well. I slept through most of the day with a sore throat and headache. Friday was worse, I woke up early in the morning (3:00 am) with a massive earache. I tried getting in to see the Dr, but I missed the 8:00am call time by 5 minutes. I was told they could call me if there was a cancellation, or I could come in and wait for one. Hmmm. If the pain had been worse, I may have gone in to wait, but I think that would have been in an emergency room, not the Drs. office. I took the alternative to have them call me. That may have been the wrong move. No Dr. visit on Friday.

I spent the day with my ear under moist heat. That and some Tylenol made the earache bearable by 6:00pm. All I needed was some sleep and I should be fine, right?…. Wrong. I woke up Saturday with a cough that just would not quit. I didn’t even try searching for these symptoms on the web. Throat feels fine, but I had a severe tickle. I could not stop coughing. I’ve never had this sort of illness. One or the other sure, but different things in succession, nope.

Today I was feeling better, no sore throat, no headache, no earache, no cough. Until play practice. The extra talking I did made my throat tickle again.. I stopped talking at 5:00pm and the tickle has subsided. Maybe if I can get away without talking much tomorrow, my throat will be better by Tuesday’s rehearsal.

Anyway, I had my costume all set and was prepared to go to a Halloween gathering. I even had the makings for a wonderful Halloween treat.

Here it is…

Bloody Fingers and Toes

1 package Lil’Smokies
1 package brats
Favorite BBQ sauce.

Cut all sausages into toe and finger tip size pieces. Fry brats in skillet until cooked through, brown Lil’Smokies. Place in crockpot and stir in your favorite BBQ sauce. Heat through. Serve.

Hot dogs or other sausage types could be used in addition to other types. 1.5 to 2 1lbs meat should be used. Various types of sausages will give you different finger and toe sizes.

I took my two youngest daughters to lunch today, and then scampered back home to allow my youngest to get her stuff together to head back to school. On the way to Fort Wayne, we stopped in Hicksville to see a play Jamiahsh was in. About 10 minutes into the play, I mentioned to my daughter that I was guessing Jamiahsh’s character would be the murder victim. Not just because he was annoying the ‘director’, but because, these shows are predictable. At least to some extent. I will admit that I didn’t get the ‘real’ murderer. A very fun performance.

Then off to Fort Wayne with a stop at a Walmart to get pictures developed and some scrap booking supplies. That took some time this evening. A rather late dinner and I got my daughter back to school some time after 8:00pm. Then the hour drive back home.

When I got here, I decided to relax and watch the end of Sunday Night Football. By the time I started watching, the game was just about over and it was only halfway through the 3rd period. At least during the game I did find out that most of the teams for the league championship series have been decided. Only the Phillies and Rockies need to complete their series. And they had a snow out…. I think some cities should have domed stadiums (or more exactly retractable domes) if they start competing in October/November. Sometimes it is just too cold for baseball.

I also heard that the Bears won, so we should see another Whatever post… 😉