Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Are Blogs Supposed to be Interesting?
I am off for 3 days. I can't sleep the entire 3 days, so, I guess I will get going and do something meaningful. I think I will eat lunch. That sounds like a good idea. I do not need to mow the yard. I do need to wash the truck, but that will be a waste of water in this drought. The dogs are sleeping soundly. I did not sleep so soundly last night. I rather think I did not sleep at all. I may have to take a nap this afternoon.
All that aside, I am going to get up and take a shower. I have been awake and out of bed since 5AM and I need another cup of coffee. I need to drop something in the mail, so I am going to get cleaned up and go to the post office. Man, this sounds like a boring day.
I was reading a report about a spreading bacterial infection in fish and crustaceans in the Gulf of Mexico. It is probably due to something in the water and on the bottom of the Gulf. Thank goodness it stretches from Louisiana, eastward towards Florida. Some reports are stating that some sick fish are showing up west of the Mississippi delta. That was a bit disturbing to read. The experts say to cook the fish well and you probably will not have to worry about the contamination. That is encouraging to read. I am glad I am a vegetarian.
On another subject, I could not help but notice this morning that the Wrens are nesting in our yard. They were gathering up nesting materials out of my rain gutter. I wish they would build a Wren hotel and clean all that stuff out of the gutters. The Sparrows have been checking out our front porch. They were especially interested in a hanging basket in the corner. I just have to remember that when I hear a tapping at my window in my office, it probably is a bird checking out the glass.
There are several new movies out this week and an assortment of others showing at various theaters around town. I want to see the documentary at the Arbor Regal Cinema about the caves in France that were painted a few thousand years ago. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the name of the movie. Also, for a lame brain entertainment venture, there is Hangover II. I cannot decide which to go see.
Ho Hum.... Angela is off at a workshop and I am here with the two mutts. All they want to do is sleep. The ether they are exuding is overwhelming. I feel like passing out right now and napping right here at this keyboard. Got to go take a cold shower and wake up......
I wish I had something interesting to tell you all. I believe my life has reverted to nothing exciting. I used to move among the movers and shakers of Texas .... in the backgrounds. Those were heady days. I knew people and things. I suspected things that could have put me in a difficult position. Nothing like that these days. All those old skeletons are dead now. They were willing to get out there and take the chances. I was not willing to do that. I preferred to sit back and watch. I was the speck on the wall. And, who knows, what I suspected probably was just fiction anyway.... except, they all are dead now. I don't even remember the dots to connect any longer. It does not matter anyway. That is old news of a different era.
Well, I am off to the races. See you all on the flippa....
All that aside, I am going to get up and take a shower. I have been awake and out of bed since 5AM and I need another cup of coffee. I need to drop something in the mail, so I am going to get cleaned up and go to the post office. Man, this sounds like a boring day.
I was reading a report about a spreading bacterial infection in fish and crustaceans in the Gulf of Mexico. It is probably due to something in the water and on the bottom of the Gulf. Thank goodness it stretches from Louisiana, eastward towards Florida. Some reports are stating that some sick fish are showing up west of the Mississippi delta. That was a bit disturbing to read. The experts say to cook the fish well and you probably will not have to worry about the contamination. That is encouraging to read. I am glad I am a vegetarian.
On another subject, I could not help but notice this morning that the Wrens are nesting in our yard. They were gathering up nesting materials out of my rain gutter. I wish they would build a Wren hotel and clean all that stuff out of the gutters. The Sparrows have been checking out our front porch. They were especially interested in a hanging basket in the corner. I just have to remember that when I hear a tapping at my window in my office, it probably is a bird checking out the glass.
There are several new movies out this week and an assortment of others showing at various theaters around town. I want to see the documentary at the Arbor Regal Cinema about the caves in France that were painted a few thousand years ago. Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the name of the movie. Also, for a lame brain entertainment venture, there is Hangover II. I cannot decide which to go see.
Ho Hum.... Angela is off at a workshop and I am here with the two mutts. All they want to do is sleep. The ether they are exuding is overwhelming. I feel like passing out right now and napping right here at this keyboard. Got to go take a cold shower and wake up......
I wish I had something interesting to tell you all. I believe my life has reverted to nothing exciting. I used to move among the movers and shakers of Texas .... in the backgrounds. Those were heady days. I knew people and things. I suspected things that could have put me in a difficult position. Nothing like that these days. All those old skeletons are dead now. They were willing to get out there and take the chances. I was not willing to do that. I preferred to sit back and watch. I was the speck on the wall. And, who knows, what I suspected probably was just fiction anyway.... except, they all are dead now. I don't even remember the dots to connect any longer. It does not matter anyway. That is old news of a different era.
Well, I am off to the races. See you all on the flippa....
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
My Generation....
Wow! There is so much going on right now in this world. I am worn out tonight from contemplating all the events and news and speculation and regulations and decisions and protests and wars and weather and weird stuff.... And, I am envious of my sweet Wife, who gets to be outside of all this, at our little country place in Moulton. She makes pottery and I worry....
But, I shall put all that out of my mind tonight and go try to find a comedy or travel documentary to watch. I was having a conversation with a fellow Pharmacist today and I came to realize that he and I have been doing what we do for a very long time. We both are in the middle of getting our Continuing Education points in line for our license renewal and I am also doing some special training to renew my Preceptor certification for another stretch of time. It dawned on me that I have been at this for 35 years plus the 5 years of college... 40 years of taking care of patients. 40 years of change. 40 years of out with the old and in with the new and a lot of reshaped Me Too drugs and treatments. I have to wonder what I could teach a new young student these days.
Well, I think my data base is still pretty good. The Generational differences these days are frightening to me. I find myself appearing like my parents, when it comes to understanding the younger generations. I have lots of young people working for me. They range in age from 20 to 50 and one old timer in his 60s. Every generation is so much different from the others. I tend to lump them all into one big mysterious group, at times. I don't understand the lack of commitment and the slack work ethic of some of them. I am amazed when they seem to be determined to excel, yet they also seem to be so greatly distracted by cell phones and x-boxes and such. Just when I think they all are total loners, I hear that they all tend to check up on each other and quietly help each other out when the chips are down. That sound somewhat familiar. They tend to be the best of Buds when they are outside of work. They share stories and lessons and boyfriends and girlfriends and money and apartments and cars and who knows what else. Most are very tolerant of racial things .... THANK GOD FOR THAT! I have been waiting for the generations of racial bigots to disappear for a long time. That gives me great hope for the future.
Someone once told me that my generation (the Baby Boomers) was a generation of yellers. We actually would call up radio talk shows and yell about stupid subjects and get all wound up over the most insane issues. We were the get it done generation, but we got frustrated when we found we could not always get it all done. We were the kids of the Greatest Generation and so we had lots to live up to, but we just could not do that. Our parents could do it all. We, on the other hand, thought we could do it all better when we got motivated as adults. We were rebellious as kids. We wore our hair long. We dressed in ridiculous clothes. We took too many chances when it came to such things as sexual freedom. We did not conform and thus the reason we became one big generation of conflicts. Conflicts with our parents. Conflicts with our Government. Conflicts with dress codes and rules and follow orders. We were conflicted in everything and thus the reason we began to yell about everything. We are opinionated.... in a big way. Somehow, I think our kids quietly let us yell while they ignored us. Right under our noses, a whole new mindset sprung up without too much input from us. Kids now a days know how to get along, unless they are being greatly influenced by older generations. They seem to have it all together for the most part. The commitment thing probably comes from all the divorces they saw in our group. Oh well, no one is perfect. They seem to have learned some things from our mistakes without much direct education from us. We told them to do as I say and not as I do and they promptly ignored that and fooled us. Good for them.
So, perhaps my generation should sit back and let the youngsters take over. We should bite our tongues and not say a thing. Keep our opinions to ourselves should be out mantra. Perhaps we should all go to India and sit and meditate with a Guru. We should just seek that higher ground and let the next generation fix all the problems we created. All I ask is, leave me enough money to live out my life in comfort. All that yelling has worn me out. Man, I need some Tofu and brown rice.... Peace.
But, I shall put all that out of my mind tonight and go try to find a comedy or travel documentary to watch. I was having a conversation with a fellow Pharmacist today and I came to realize that he and I have been doing what we do for a very long time. We both are in the middle of getting our Continuing Education points in line for our license renewal and I am also doing some special training to renew my Preceptor certification for another stretch of time. It dawned on me that I have been at this for 35 years plus the 5 years of college... 40 years of taking care of patients. 40 years of change. 40 years of out with the old and in with the new and a lot of reshaped Me Too drugs and treatments. I have to wonder what I could teach a new young student these days.
Well, I think my data base is still pretty good. The Generational differences these days are frightening to me. I find myself appearing like my parents, when it comes to understanding the younger generations. I have lots of young people working for me. They range in age from 20 to 50 and one old timer in his 60s. Every generation is so much different from the others. I tend to lump them all into one big mysterious group, at times. I don't understand the lack of commitment and the slack work ethic of some of them. I am amazed when they seem to be determined to excel, yet they also seem to be so greatly distracted by cell phones and x-boxes and such. Just when I think they all are total loners, I hear that they all tend to check up on each other and quietly help each other out when the chips are down. That sound somewhat familiar. They tend to be the best of Buds when they are outside of work. They share stories and lessons and boyfriends and girlfriends and money and apartments and cars and who knows what else. Most are very tolerant of racial things .... THANK GOD FOR THAT! I have been waiting for the generations of racial bigots to disappear for a long time. That gives me great hope for the future.
Someone once told me that my generation (the Baby Boomers) was a generation of yellers. We actually would call up radio talk shows and yell about stupid subjects and get all wound up over the most insane issues. We were the get it done generation, but we got frustrated when we found we could not always get it all done. We were the kids of the Greatest Generation and so we had lots to live up to, but we just could not do that. Our parents could do it all. We, on the other hand, thought we could do it all better when we got motivated as adults. We were rebellious as kids. We wore our hair long. We dressed in ridiculous clothes. We took too many chances when it came to such things as sexual freedom. We did not conform and thus the reason we became one big generation of conflicts. Conflicts with our parents. Conflicts with our Government. Conflicts with dress codes and rules and follow orders. We were conflicted in everything and thus the reason we began to yell about everything. We are opinionated.... in a big way. Somehow, I think our kids quietly let us yell while they ignored us. Right under our noses, a whole new mindset sprung up without too much input from us. Kids now a days know how to get along, unless they are being greatly influenced by older generations. They seem to have it all together for the most part. The commitment thing probably comes from all the divorces they saw in our group. Oh well, no one is perfect. They seem to have learned some things from our mistakes without much direct education from us. We told them to do as I say and not as I do and they promptly ignored that and fooled us. Good for them.
So, perhaps my generation should sit back and let the youngsters take over. We should bite our tongues and not say a thing. Keep our opinions to ourselves should be out mantra. Perhaps we should all go to India and sit and meditate with a Guru. We should just seek that higher ground and let the next generation fix all the problems we created. All I ask is, leave me enough money to live out my life in comfort. All that yelling has worn me out. Man, I need some Tofu and brown rice.... Peace.
Multiple Vortex Tornado Near Marionville, Missouri on May 4th, 2003
I am not so sure this is what one should do when you see a tornado behind you. I believe the best thing is to seek shelter and not try to outrun a tornado. Most people do not realize the size of the storms. 200 plus mile per hour winds and a potential to be a mile across is not something you want to take on in a vehicle. Cars are just flotsam in a storm like this.
First Person video of Joplin MO tornado 5/22/11
You cannot see much but you get the idea of what it is like to go through a tornado while in a small convenience store. It is very frightening.
But, these people did the right thing.
They huddled and found the safest corner of the store away from windows that they could.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Fear Not For I Am...
Perhaps this has been one of the most inspiring weekends of my life. I almost do not know where to start. So, let me start at the beginning. Wunjo, Berkana, Raidho... the path. Nothing happens in life that is not meant to be. No event is carried out without a meaning, a lesson, an action. This was to have been, according to a cult, the Judgement Day weekend. It was the day that those who have been chosen by God, were to be taken in the Rapture to Heaven. I do not watch television, so I am not sure it happened. What I do know is that the Austin Police Department had a SWAT action carried out against someone in an apartment near the old Highland Mall. It was complete with a cordoned off area, guns drawn, teargas and concussion grenades, an armored car, and lots of yelling...."come out with your hands up!" For who ever was in that apartment, it was the Judgement Day and they were probably taken, but not to Heaven, unless they died in the raid.
In the mean time, I was being told something I needed to hear. Wunjo, Bernana (reversed) and Raidho. My life can be a bit surreal at times. I seek a spiritual path and it is disturbed by the detonation of a grenade and the yelling of the Police. All this leaves me walking calmly away from the confusion with my Wife, hand in hand out the back door. After all, it was not me "they" were coming for. As we drove away, we forgot the Police and their world of breaking down doors and dragging people out of their homes. We did not consider the world of that criminal. You see, you create your own world. You create your destiny. You walk your own path, and ours did not include any of that confusion and violence.
Then, today for the lack of something better to spend some time doing, I rested on the couch and watch The DaVinci Code. Once again, a story of violence and yelling and guns and death and going to Heaven. A fiction of sorts, I suppose. Yet, this time, I was touched by something. It was not the story, it was the feeling it left inside of me. So many paths leading to just one source. Like arrows or swords radiating outward from a single point, we point in a direction and go off into our world of experiences. All the while traveling onward, never looking backward, until we get old. Then, we stop and think of where we have been and all we have seen and heard and tasted and done. We reflect. And, as we turn in our thoughts backwards to see where we have come, there we see it. The single point, way back down the path. You look around and you see so many others doing the same thing. Some never turn. Some look off into a different direction. Some are blind and can not see at all. Some already are stumbling backwards to the beginning of their journey. What do you see? If you look very hard through the distance of time and space, into the great void you perceive, perhaps just past the point you think you started on your journey, you will see a something that will raise your spirits. You might see many standing as if before a great dark pool of calm water. Many gods and many saints. Many souls trembling at the discovery of what they see there in that great darkness. It is a vision. It is a defined reflection. Each bends and looks and sees a face in the depths of the water from which all have come. Each face seems to melt into one and it is that One which is divine.
From the many comes one. And, to the One comes the many. This weekend has made me happy. I have had plenty of time to reflect (in more than one way). I feel satisfied of what I have experienced and I look forward (or perhaps backward) to what is yet to come. They stories are like the grains of sand in the entire Universe. They all vibrate with an energy of creation. And, in that great vibration of energy we know as life, if you listen carefully, you will hear a soft whisper echoing across the great expanse... I love you!
In the mean time, I was being told something I needed to hear. Wunjo, Bernana (reversed) and Raidho. My life can be a bit surreal at times. I seek a spiritual path and it is disturbed by the detonation of a grenade and the yelling of the Police. All this leaves me walking calmly away from the confusion with my Wife, hand in hand out the back door. After all, it was not me "they" were coming for. As we drove away, we forgot the Police and their world of breaking down doors and dragging people out of their homes. We did not consider the world of that criminal. You see, you create your own world. You create your destiny. You walk your own path, and ours did not include any of that confusion and violence.
Then, today for the lack of something better to spend some time doing, I rested on the couch and watch The DaVinci Code. Once again, a story of violence and yelling and guns and death and going to Heaven. A fiction of sorts, I suppose. Yet, this time, I was touched by something. It was not the story, it was the feeling it left inside of me. So many paths leading to just one source. Like arrows or swords radiating outward from a single point, we point in a direction and go off into our world of experiences. All the while traveling onward, never looking backward, until we get old. Then, we stop and think of where we have been and all we have seen and heard and tasted and done. We reflect. And, as we turn in our thoughts backwards to see where we have come, there we see it. The single point, way back down the path. You look around and you see so many others doing the same thing. Some never turn. Some look off into a different direction. Some are blind and can not see at all. Some already are stumbling backwards to the beginning of their journey. What do you see? If you look very hard through the distance of time and space, into the great void you perceive, perhaps just past the point you think you started on your journey, you will see a something that will raise your spirits. You might see many standing as if before a great dark pool of calm water. Many gods and many saints. Many souls trembling at the discovery of what they see there in that great darkness. It is a vision. It is a defined reflection. Each bends and looks and sees a face in the depths of the water from which all have come. Each face seems to melt into one and it is that One which is divine.
From the many comes one. And, to the One comes the many. This weekend has made me happy. I have had plenty of time to reflect (in more than one way). I feel satisfied of what I have experienced and I look forward (or perhaps backward) to what is yet to come. They stories are like the grains of sand in the entire Universe. They all vibrate with an energy of creation. And, in that great vibration of energy we know as life, if you listen carefully, you will hear a soft whisper echoing across the great expanse... I love you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)