Still here.
Really.
I suppose if I have to change my plans, it's best to do it for my own reasons.
I delayed leaving for the trip to Thursday morning instead of 1 p.m. Wednesday. Several reasons:
(1) Today is supposed to be a rainy day and night, and I enjoy watching thunderstorms. I don't much enjoy driving through them, though. I enjoy storms as they come during the night. The lightning and thunder and all that good stuff. We've had very few storms (and not that much rain) this summer.
(2) There's a very good baseball game on tonight with an exciting young pitcher, and this will be my first chance to see him.
(3) It's also the trade deadline for baseball, and it could be an active night on the transaction wire.
(4) If I left at 1 p.m., I'd get to the Soo after 7 p.m. (losing an hour to the time change), and I wasn't sure I could do all the things I wanted to without staying there two nights.
So I told my wife this morning that I'm going to stay here tonight and hit the road tomorrow morning. What happens next?
(A) The storms that seemed poised to totally drench the area (predictably) fizzled out before they got here. We had some rain, but not too much.
(B) I called the collision center this morning, and they must have forgotten they were going to get me my car today. They said late today--tomorrow morning would be better. I said tomorrow morning would not be better because I'm hitting the road at 6 a.m. They asked about my loaner. I told them it's a big old van. I am not going to drive to the Soo in a gas guzzler that doesn't event have a cassette player, much less a CD player or satellite radio, as the Mazda does. So we'll see if I can get my wheels back late today.
At any rate, I'm at work all day today, finishing up things more thoroughly than I would of had I hit the road after lunch. Ideally, we'll get that new grill working in time for supper tonight. I love grilled brats, and that would be a great meal for tonight. And it would pull some good out of a anticlimactic day.
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
E-mails go zinging
Oh, one more thing. I wrote e-mails to the various friends who haven't been writing me. One went to the woman who wrote me last week.
Among the others, I got a response already, and someone else sent me an copy of a file. But she hasn't written a real message to me since May. I wasn't expecting much, and that's exactly what I got. That's why I started sending my thoughts to Mr. Blurty.
That's enough. More after I return from my trip (in two or three days). It will be a very free-form trip, I'll tell you.
Among the others, I got a response already, and someone else sent me an copy of a file. But she hasn't written a real message to me since May. I wasn't expecting much, and that's exactly what I got. That's why I started sending my thoughts to Mr. Blurty.
That's enough. More after I return from my trip (in two or three days). It will be a very free-form trip, I'll tell you.
Pre-journey business
A little traveling music! I'm hitting the road by myself for a couple days. I'm heading to the Canadian Soo. We visited there last summer, and I really enjoyed it, and I want to look around a little more, maybe get a thing or two--I saw an English dictionary (as in British English) that I want to look at again. So I'm leaving after lunch tomorrow and hope to get there in the evening. David wants me to get pictures of the big Santa Claus along the highway in Christmas (near Munising), so he put out his digital camera where I can grab it. Hope I don't forget. It's a rush-rush trip. But it'll be nice to get away for a few days. I enjoy driving, anyway. Won't visit any friends or stop for a visit. Just a drive to a place I'd like to visit more often. Rain is in the forecast. Ok. so it rains. So?
Busy day. Wrote up my school board article from the night before, cleared off my desk a little. We recently got my dad's gas grill, so we had to get a new propane tank for it (new fittings--the old ones aren't used any more) and a grill brush. By the time I got out of work, it was raining on and off, so I'll make the tank switchover after I get back from my trip.
My car is in the shop for deer damage from two weeks ago, but I'll get it back tomorrow morning. Till them, I'm driving a clunky Dodge Caravan that feels as maneuverable as the Queen Mary in comparison to the Mazda.
Let's see what else. I got photos of the local firemen with the big eagle float they made for the U.P. tourney over the weekend--they won the overall the title. They want all the pictures I took at the tourney, which number in the hundreds. I said I'll burn them on a CD-ROM, and they said cool.
Busy day. Wrote up my school board article from the night before, cleared off my desk a little. We recently got my dad's gas grill, so we had to get a new propane tank for it (new fittings--the old ones aren't used any more) and a grill brush. By the time I got out of work, it was raining on and off, so I'll make the tank switchover after I get back from my trip.
My car is in the shop for deer damage from two weeks ago, but I'll get it back tomorrow morning. Till them, I'm driving a clunky Dodge Caravan that feels as maneuverable as the Queen Mary in comparison to the Mazda.
Let's see what else. I got photos of the local firemen with the big eagle float they made for the U.P. tourney over the weekend--they won the overall the title. They want all the pictures I took at the tourney, which number in the hundreds. I said I'll burn them on a CD-ROM, and they said cool.
A long day
Not a bad day. Just a long one. Putting all the paper together short-handed with all those photos I took at the football camp and the firemen's tourney last week. I got a lot of good pictures, I think, and wrote a good wrap-up of it. Interviews and all.
And yes, we were shorthanded with the editor gone and just two of us to put it all together. But we worked very hard and didn't let ourselves get distracted or discouraged, and finally we got it finished.
Then it was a very busy night. I had a school board meeting to cover, which was rather brief for school board meetings, and then went with my son David to see Pirates of the Caribbean--the show starting at 8:30 p.m. But I think the work and tension of the day just got the best of me. I just couldn't get into the story, and I know I dozed off for a few minutes. Maybe the plot was hard to follow, though I got the general idea of what was happening. It was OK, but I really wasn't mentally ready to handle something like that.
So after getting home I went on the computer for a while, catching up with the news and reading a chapter of a novel. And now I'm writing this. But not any longer.
And yes, we were shorthanded with the editor gone and just two of us to put it all together. But we worked very hard and didn't let ourselves get distracted or discouraged, and finally we got it finished.
Then it was a very busy night. I had a school board meeting to cover, which was rather brief for school board meetings, and then went with my son David to see Pirates of the Caribbean--the show starting at 8:30 p.m. But I think the work and tension of the day just got the best of me. I just couldn't get into the story, and I know I dozed off for a few minutes. Maybe the plot was hard to follow, though I got the general idea of what was happening. It was OK, but I really wasn't mentally ready to handle something like that.
So after getting home I went on the computer for a while, catching up with the news and reading a chapter of a novel. And now I'm writing this. But not any longer.
Sunday, July 27, 2003
No better than you
Before we go any farther, I should talk about my spelling and punctuation and use of caps.
Well, I write for a living, so I try to be accurate with spelling and stuff like that. But don't get the impression that I think I'm any better than anyone else. We all do what works for us. This is just how I like to do it.
In point of fact, I like young people very much. They are much more interesting than folks my age. Of course I wish I were back in my 20s or 30s again, but I'm in the 50s, so there you are. Take it as you want. My life is OK. I enjoy most of it.
Oh, another thing. If you think us older folks have their lives together and don't have doubts and fears all the time, be advised that it's a crock. Older folks don't have it any more together than you younger guys do. I think the difference is that we're more apt to be satisfied with things the way they are. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes that's not good at all. Maybe that's why we have such crappy politicians.
Well, I write for a living, so I try to be accurate with spelling and stuff like that. But don't get the impression that I think I'm any better than anyone else. We all do what works for us. This is just how I like to do it.
In point of fact, I like young people very much. They are much more interesting than folks my age. Of course I wish I were back in my 20s or 30s again, but I'm in the 50s, so there you are. Take it as you want. My life is OK. I enjoy most of it.
Oh, another thing. If you think us older folks have their lives together and don't have doubts and fears all the time, be advised that it's a crock. Older folks don't have it any more together than you younger guys do. I think the difference is that we're more apt to be satisfied with things the way they are. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes that's not good at all. Maybe that's why we have such crappy politicians.
Why are we here? (not a metaphysical question)
Mr. Blurty has a new friend. It's me. I can write to him and not expect a response and that means I won't get depressed when he doesn't write back.
Aha, being a clever person, I bet you can detect the reason I am starting this. And you're right. I've been writing e-mails to a bunch of people who increasingly don't seem very interested in writing back. So it seems to me a colossal waste of time, does it not? Friendship is a two-way street, true?
Actually, I have a e-mail from a few days ago that I have to respond to, but she wrote about three weeks after my last message to her, so that gives be a little slack. Plus, last week was frightfully busy at the office, so first things first. It still is. It's Sunday night, and I have to go back and finish up some writing, because we're also short-handed on one of the busiest weeks of the summer.
But I'm hoping to write a few lines once in a while to keep you updated. Very short bio. I'm 53, male, living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Work at a newspaper. Married, wife, two sons (one home, one not), two cats (both home). I'll do some work on the official Blurty profile questions later on when I'm not in a rush (which seems to be 90% of the time.)
Aha, being a clever person, I bet you can detect the reason I am starting this. And you're right. I've been writing e-mails to a bunch of people who increasingly don't seem very interested in writing back. So it seems to me a colossal waste of time, does it not? Friendship is a two-way street, true?
Actually, I have a e-mail from a few days ago that I have to respond to, but she wrote about three weeks after my last message to her, so that gives be a little slack. Plus, last week was frightfully busy at the office, so first things first. It still is. It's Sunday night, and I have to go back and finish up some writing, because we're also short-handed on one of the busiest weeks of the summer.
But I'm hoping to write a few lines once in a while to keep you updated. Very short bio. I'm 53, male, living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Work at a newspaper. Married, wife, two sons (one home, one not), two cats (both home). I'll do some work on the official Blurty profile questions later on when I'm not in a rush (which seems to be 90% of the time.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)