A Better Life

Saturday started out extremely distressed. Woke up with a headache and sinus problems which resulted in an overwhelming feeling of dread over the lack of results given my recent delving into the world of article writing. I hesitate to refer to it as article marketing at this point. As the day progressed, I was able to get on a better footing after allergy medicine and a couple of maximum strength pain relievers. So, to kick things off I put on the Metallica - Some Kind of Monster DVD and went to work on a list of article ideas to see if I could come up with some feasible ideas. Not bad but they will need to be reworked before I can even think about submitting them as an original work of mine. I did get a couple of texts from my brother James so I worked on getting the apartment in some kind of order. I have concluded that I shouldn't even attempt to try anything creative until after noon. Before noon, nothing is happening. Early afternoon and I am good to go. I came up w...

Way back in 1979, when I first started going to Bible College (Baptist Bible College to be specific in Springfield, Missouri) I was introduced to the idea of Contemporary Christian Music through Amy Grant. Not a bad start given her phenomenal success that would come along later. The issue was that I really enjoyed my rock music and it was causing some consternation with my fellow students and the administration. My good room mate, Marty was kind enough to turn me on to the sweet sounds of Amy Grant and others in this burgeoning genre of music. I also picked up on Contemporary Jazz through Chuck Mangione (I did have a tendency to stumble on to the greats in the genres of choice) but that is for another day. I also started listening to Keith Green, Tim Shephard, the Cruse Family, Petra, etc. which gave me music I could actually relate to not like the rock music of the day. Never did drugs, slept around or crashed cars (Detroit Rock City for you Kiss fans never really applied to me). So, ...

As happens from time to time, my wife inadvertently broke the screen on her new iPhone XS. Innocently enough, she just dropped her phone in her purse, then Bam! Pow! Wham! the screen was broke.  The iPhone XS, not as resilient as her iPhone 7, just wasn’t up to the task of handling the impact on the corner of the phone. See, this is why a wrap around screen is just not a good idea. Being the indecisive lot, she hadn’t settled on a case to our dismay. So, I filed the claim and eventually (3 weeks for the entire process) we did receive the new phone. Well, not exactly new, refurbished actually and not in the color I had listed on the claim form. Instead of gold, they sent one in black. No recourse really, so on we go with this replacement phone. Another issue was, although it is a good idea to provide a case (clear, good for drops up to 10 feet), it would have been better if they had sent a case that would fit the phone. A case for an iPhone XS Max will not fit an iPhone XS. Jus...

So a few years ago, a weekend was planned with some trepidation. It seemed simple enough. I was going to visit my parents at their home in my home town. I would be taking my mother grocery shopping and then I was to plow up a good bit of their yard (their house sits on about an acre of land). So no problem right? Not so much. First of all, I took off work Friday so I would plenty of time to do what I needed to do and make it back home Saturday night to see my girlfriend who is amazingly understanding about me having to visit my parents. So, just to get things going I leave early on Thursday because it is always hectic getting everything around for a longer stay with my parents. Should I take just the laptop, laptop and 24" monitor or ditch the laptop and take my Mac Pro which is heavy, bulky but so much more fun than my PC laptop (Windows 7 is not my favorite by any means). So, being tired from the craziness of work and after work activities, I just grabbed the laptop, some clot...

This is a cautionary tale of taking steps but not following through and seeing someone else reap the benefits. So, a little history is in order. While separated from my wife on a slow boat to divorce (2-year separation) I started setting up blogs to document the lessons I was learning going through the divorce process. I bought several domain names over several months. One of those domains was to indulge my interest in herb gardening and cooking with herbs. I had even written an article about taking an interest and turning it into a website. As time went on, my writing increased and I kept thinking I was going to do something about this herb website but alas that day never came. I agreed to go to counseling which resulted in a massive loss in confidence and so all writing ceased for months. Today I was going through the domains and websites I had had and realized that one of my domains had been lost, sold and the person who bought had made the dream I had a reality. They had artic...

Just as a house has rooms for specific purposes, your life should have these same "rooms" for very specific purposes. Ever wonder why all houses have the same basic rooms? Our shelter reflects elements we need in each of our lives. You need a kitchen/dining room, a living room, a family room (or den as some would call it), a bedroom and a bathroom. Kitchen/Dining Room - Every house must have a place to prepare and consume nourishment, whether it be a cookie or a 6-course meal. The need for nourishment is the key to survival. Without nourishment, we would perish. We need a regular intake of food to provide energy for the necessary and sometimes unnecessary activities in our life. Ever feel sluggish? Time to visit the kitchen/dining room of our life to take in more energy. If your car runs out of fuel what happens? It stops, won't go, becomes pretty much useless. We are the same, without nourishment we stop and become all but useless. Living room - Just as we need physi...

A few years ago I had this very difficult week which turned out to be one of the most difficult weeks I had since my step-father passed away. This includes the 2 years of anguish I suffered that culminated in my divorce.  First I had lost a cousin I grew up with.  We would go over to his house to play, he would come over to our house.  We went through Junior High and High School together.  I knew his wife, sister and his mother is one of my favorite aunts.  As losses go, this was a hard one.  He was was also one of my step-father's favorite nephews.  My cousin worked for the railroad, the same one my step-father worked for and enjoyed very much.  The other thing is my cousin's father died when he was a baby and was someone my step-father admired.  My cousins' father had been fighting in Korea and contracted a disease which presented itself as cancer which also killed my cousin and is now affecting his sister. So, going to a funeral which wa...

How many times have you been asked, “What Do You Want?”.  This could be with respect to what to have for dinner, what movie to watch or what college to attend.  How do you answer these questions?  Do they really want to know what you want or for you to agree with what they have already decided?  So many times I believe this is not so much a question for honest input but more for affirmation for a decision already made.  This puts one in a very awkward position how they should answer this particular question.  Personally, I find the most appropriate answer is the honest truth.  You will know immediately if they were really wanting the truth or for you to agree with their predetermined choice.  In my dealings with people, I try to keep this in mind and when I ask this question I am honestly wanting them to tell me what they want not what I want them to want.  Makes life much easier.  However, if your goal is to not hurt their feeling...

Well, here we are at another Thanksgiving. No turkey or ham in sight. No dressing and no cranberry sauce. No family around just me alone to celebrate the one day of the year we set aside to celebrate and give thanks for everything. Normally I would have been at my parents but instead, I am home thinking about what I am missing this year. I called my mother and talked for a long time (I don’t believe our phone calls have ever been less than 30 minutes). This is exactly what I would have been doing had I made the 3 hour trip to their home. Sitting around talking about nothing and everything like every other family on the planet. I was supposed to spend time with a friends family but that has seemed to fall through. However, I am not disturbed by this but thankful to have this time to reflect on the past year and all everything that I have to be thankful. I have a wonderful, well-paying job which I enjoy. I live in a nice apartment surrounded by friendly neighbors. I belong to a good so...

Over the last year, we were informed that the world would end on December 21, 2012, due to the Mayan calendar ending on that day. Well, nothing traumatic happened to the world at large so the Mayan calendar had no mystical meaning and served no other purpose than to make some people rich from selling books about the end of the world and expounding on Mayan history. So I suppose this exercise did serve the purpose of bringing people together (at least those that bought into this idea) who were preparing not to be here this morning. Throughout the ages and several times in my lifetime, someone or some group has come out to say the world is going to end on such and such a day. Oh, they always have a good explanation on why this particular day is going to be the end of everything as we know it but alas the disaster and calamity never occur. But what if the world had ended yesterday? What would be different? How would we prepare for such an event? Most of us would be praying maybe calling...

Some events in our lives bode remembering and the more important ones, celebrating.  It is an odd practice to celebrate the passing of a year since some event.  The most obvious one, of course, would be one's birthday.  What better occasion to celebrate than one's entry into this life?  Other events that may be considered somewhat memorable would be the day of graduated from kindergarten, 6th grade, and more importantly high school.  If one makes it so far the day they graduate from college becomes a very memorable event.  However, as these events are noteworthy, we don't really celebrate them each year do we?  No, there are just some events we remember and some we bring out the party and share the moment with family and friends.   Events we usually actually celebrate would be the day we were engaged, the day we were married, the birth of our first child and subsequent children, the day we were hired for a particular life-changing job.  ...

So many times I have seen this particular scenario, particularly with women in my life. I am asked about doing something and I respond with a polite no. Does it end there? No, they proceed to continue their tirade until I give in or conveniently “change my mind”. Why can’t people respect the no? No means no. This is what I have always been told, usually in the context of dating but there are so many areas where a no should be respected and left alone. Some of the most current infractions have been when asked to purchase something for my apartment, my response was I can’t really afford that right now. Their response? Oh I will buy it and you can pay me back. Again the no was not taken seriously and now my finances are strained.   What this behavior tells me is that no matter how I feel about something, I am not considered. Sometimes I may even feel compromised because I am being asked to do something I am truly not comfortable with. “You will go to this event whether yo...

Events in life are sometimes unforeseen, unplanned and sometimes not in anyway your fault.  For instance, let's say you walk into work and you’re working away.  Then someone says you are to go to a conference room.  You walk in and they begin by saying, "Unfortunately,...".  From there you know this is not going to be good news.  The end result is you get a termination letter because you have been laid off.  Now, for most of us that is a devastating situation because, provided you are responsible for others in your household, how do you tell your significant other especially if you are the sole source of income?  What do you do now?  Imagine this happening when you are 50+ years old and it was already tight with the money you were bringing in?  This is a situation no one wants to find themselves in but happens every day to people throughout our country and the world.  What do people do? Well, the first thing one must do is wrap you...