A Better Life

So, now that I have my bonus and raise, we (my wife and I) have decided on some goals: New Furniture (we are still using the furniture we each had before we were married 4 years ago) New Mattress (our current one is that one I bought for myself over 6 years ago) Newer Car (our current vehicle is showing its age at 180,000+ miles) Travelling at least once a quarter So now, we have achieved the first 2 items on the list which is great but now we must find a car and time to travel. The car I get since our current one is starting to have random issues, as one will once hitting 180,000+ miles. As far as travel is concerned, not my favorite activity since all travel is linked to visiting one of her friends who I don’t know or have only met once. Very awkward and quite expensive. In addition to these goals, we are to be debt free by the end of the year. So, each trip amounts to about $1,000 and on top of that we are to rid ourselves of all debt. Right. I will get right on it. Unfortu

So, you go through a horrible divorce and you meet a wonderful woman who helps you through a bit of the pain once the dust has settled.  You think, I could be happy with her.  You date, you get to know each other, uncovering all manner of skeletons in each others proverbial closets since you are not 20 but 30 odd years down the road further. So stuff has happened.  In her case, a couple of daughters.  One is in college and the other in graduate school.  Great, you think, a visit here and there maybe a pending wedding or two in the not so distant future.  You get along with the daughters and they are excited their mother has found someone, maybe not as complexion compatible as they would have expected but they deal.  Now a little while later a baby is on the way.  The parents are in no way prepared for this eventuality so the child becomes a semi-regular resident in your home.  At first with the mother and then on her own.  So fast forward 4 years later and now the child resides with yo

It's always the question people ask me.  Where do you go to get away from your problems?  Everyone assumes my life must be difficult due to my divorce and you know what they are right.  Below are a few pictures of where I go to seek serenity from the madness of the day:     Sometimes you just need a walk in the park to embrace fresh air, nature and your own thoughts.  I find my mind calms down a good bit when I take a walk. 

Sometimes I wonder if we don't miss the entire point of life by concentrating on achieving or possessing and less time on enjoying and celebrating.  By this I mean we spend so much time trying to achieve success or possess material wealth instead of enjoying what we have and celebrating our lives as we know them right now. Having goals is admirable but sometimes I think we focus too much on achieving more and should just take a step back every once in a while and enjoy our accomplishments and current position in our respective societies.  For instance, I have several guitars. They are not bad, cheap or unusable by any means but I find myself trolling the Internet for other guitars.  Would I be better off if I had a Rick Turner handmade guitar or the Eric Clapton Signature Fender Stratocaster?  In some ways but I already have 3 guitars which are amazing in their own way (A Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, a PRS Santana SE and an Ovation Celebrity Acoustic/Electric). I drive

Events occur in almost random fashion and are usually pretty nondescript for the most part but every once in a while a situation will command all of your attention and throw you back just a bit.  In the week that preceded this particular weekend you would not have noticed much that would have been noteworthy but then a realization occurred that practically floored me.  The people who I had trusted completely proved themselves as self serving as others in my life.  This has made me have to become guarded. I generally trust people to do the right thing because I still believe people on the whole are generally good.  However, in recent times more people close to me have challenged my beliefs to the point that I am not sure who to trust.  It is notoriously unsettling to have to rely on ones own intuition to make potentially life changing decisions.  Especially in areas that I may not be particularly well informed. Moving into the weekend I did what I always do when life changing decisi

Since getting my new laptop, the one thing missing in my life has been the use of free internet phone calling.  Not really a big mystery since voice over IP or VOIP for the tech savvy has been around and in place for some time now but there is nothing like video calling someone. I have my little brother to thank for exposing me to this wonderful way to communicate freely and well free.  It is a little disconcerting to see yourself on the little video screen but I guess that is what those lifesize cardboard cutouts are good for.  Perhaps a caricature of oneself could be so positioned as to give the impression that you are well coiffed and dressed when in actuality you haven't bathed, shaved or dressed in oh so many days.  Minus the downside of video revealing your inner soul, I must say it was enlightening to talk to my bro just like he was in the room with me instead of actually being 300 or so miles away.  He actually tried to do a 3 way calling thing but his wife wouldn't

When I came in from visiting the Galleria I noticed that they had a video clip of the Jimmy Fallon show on Yahoo!.  The clip was of a song performed by the rejuvenated band the Cars.  Back in the day (1979, 1980) I remember hearing the Cars "Let's Go" song for the first time.  It was with a girl (woman actually since she was 5 years my senior) and she just came back to me so vividly while watching this video.  Debbi was a very special sort.  I knew her younger sister from school and my uncle knew their mother since he had repaired some sort of ding in their family car. Debbi and I were not romantically involved per se but she is the one I consider my first love.  We would hang out by the pool in her apartment complex, go for a drive or just kick back and talk.  We worked together for the same company and really clicked on a very endearing level but never resorted to physical intimacy. This is what I would really consider the ultimate if I just had some