Wanderlust

I have a secret lover

I visit in my dreams

She's everywhere I want to go

And everywhere I've been

Her name is Wanderlust...

Going Back--Vicariously

I have been travelling back to Japan over the last few days, not actually going there, but the second best way--I have been reading a good book.

The Teahouse Fire is about a tea house in Japan in the late 1800's. It is a good book, full of colorful images of life in a tea house during the transition from old feudal Japan to the more modern Meiji era.

Since I am coming to its end, it is only fitting to add to the flavor of the read by going to my favorite Japanese restaurant in Salt Lake City for lunch: Kyoto Japanese Restaurant.

Surrounded on three sides by rice paper topped booth dividers, reading menus adorned with Japanese characters beside their English counterparts, my wife and I sat basking in the atmosphere; remembering our meals in Kyoto, Japan together.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the hushed sound of Japanese voices as the waitresses called out orders to each other. Opening them, I could get a glance at the beautiful painting of a Geisha hanging on the wall in the entrance way behind them. The waitresses scurried behind the counter-top bar similar to the ones I would sit at when I dined alone during my stays there.

Wooden chopsticks, house soy sauce served in miniature clay pots, and my lunch time favorite: Oyako Udon. It was everything I expected it to be.

If I can't be there, I guess taking in a good book and a fabulous lunch will have to do.

Strange Concept Of Travel Photos?

Just a little over a month until we cruise again. For weeks now I have been surfing the Internet cruising sites, and stargazing at the pictures I've taken in our travels -- some hanging on our walls and several on my screensaver. I just love to take photographs when I travel. I can have as many as three cameras on me at any one time.

If you saw the photos I like to take when traveling, you'd probably echo my kid's sentiments: "Why did you take THAT photograph?"

Case in point, the photo in this blog.

If I were to see this beat up old bar in my neighborhood, I'd hardly take the time to reach for my camera and save a digital history of it; but, the sagging roof, faded out colors, and Spanish language signage lured me in.

I can imagine a few locals inside, sitting around in those white plastic chairs from Walmart, and sipping on Sol and Corona beer from icy cold, sweating, long neck bottles. A sassy bar maid, in a colorful dress, makes her way from table to table with trays full of lime stuffed long necks.

I have photos of fish, rotting meat, colorful vegetables...trains, old beat up vehicles, and more old buildings. I like to capture life as it is. I am not as taken by those things built last year just for me, the camera toting, souvenir packing tourist, to plop down a few Pesos to view.

So if you see me in my travels, leaning over, lens inches from a doorknob, just smile and know I am in heaven--figuratively

All Will Be Well

When my good friend Kazumi sent the wife and me new good luck and good health blessings from Japan, for the new year, I knew things would be good this coming year. I feel fortunate to have someone care enough to look out for our welfare.

I worry way too much.

When someone handed me a fortune cookie today, I got the message even stronger: "The coming month shall bring you much happiness."

All will work out. Just send money...

I'm Not A Stalker!

Let's get this straight, right up front... I am not a stalker.

Now that that is out of the way--have you ever looked at someone and wondered what their life was like? I mean, try and imagine what kinds of conversations they have with their partner, what they do in their spare time, and what kind of books they read? Are they creative? Religious? Looney?

What do those news broadcasters I wake up to every morning think about when they have to drag themselves out of bed before all the rest of us and get made up to look their best?

I especially like to watch foreigners. When I traveled to Mexico, or Japan, I loved to watch families, couples, or just individuals in their daily routines. What are they saying to each other? What does the inside of their house look like?

Does that Chinese lady, at the buffet I like to eat lunch at, live the same life as me or does she live a Chinese life here in America?

Now, I don't mean watching their every move and following them around hoping to get a sniff of their clothing! But I often find myself watching people and wondering what their lives are like. Not in a covetous way, just curious.

I love to watch people. How they interact with others, how they carry themselves, and even the clothes they wear. I suppose it comes from my own insecurity. One of my favorite sayings is: "I need a life."

Now I hope you don't get me wrong. As I said, I don't stalk anyone. But if you are sitting in a public place and it feels like someone is watching you...

Exciting News For Me

With holiday shopping and sickness I haven't been doing my daily writing in this blog. Even without things happening, it is hard coming up with ideas to write about, that's for sure. I take my hat off to those who do it on a daily basis no matter what.

Exciting news for me, I will be starting my new job on the 31st. My new job will let me travel, hooray. I miss being able to have a change of scenery every few months and being able to fly.

I have been hitting the books trying to reincarnate the knowledge I once had, and will need again, to do my new job. It is actually a combination of the job I've been doing for most of my career and the job I have been learning for the last year. I will be a training instructor for some very high tech communication equipment.

Lots of learning involved, which I've missed these last few months.

So, I will be travelling again, quite frequently, and will share what I see and think about new places of interest here in the blog.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It was nice here. Plenty of snow and lots of love. Being around family was great. Merry Christmas to all.

I Must Be A Fatalist

I must be a fatalist. I'm always assuming, when the game turns against them, my favorite sports team is going to lose. I'm OK while they're winning, or, in baseball, hockey, or football, the game is scoreless. But let them get behind, even for a second, and it is the end of the world. They're automatically going to lose in my mind.

Our local NBA development league team, the Utah Flash, has been going down to the wire almost every game lately. In fact, several of the last games have gone into overtime or double overtime. It is nerve damaging. Why can't they just win in regulation and save me the nail chewing? Tonight's game, another overtime nail biter. Fortunately, for my fragile nerves, they took control for the whole overtime and pulled it out. WIN! But, as regulation ended, I was sure they were going to lose.

The BYU Cougars are my college team. Well, not MY college team, but my COLLEGE team...actually they are a university. BYU played tonight in the Las Vegas Bowl against UCLA. The Flash announcer gave us score updates the entire basketball game. The Cougars led most of the game.

Coincidentally, both games came to an end at almost the same time. With three seconds left in the football game, the Flash announcer informs us that UCLA is down by one with the ball on the BYU 13 yard line... of course, my mantra is: THE COUGARS ARE GOING TO LOSE!

Flash game over. Announcer now silent. Three seconds of full knowledge that the Cougars were going to lose. A long walk out to the car.

We walked out to the car in mourning, when all of a sudden, "THEY BLOCKED THE FIELD GOAL," pierced the frigid night air. "BYU won!" echoed across the parking lot. The wife and I almost sprinted to the car to turn on the radio and confirm the anonymous voice in the night. "He might be pulling one over on his friend," I told her, sure that they had met their demise.

We unlocked the car, flung open the doors, jumped in and turned on the radio. It was true. BYU blocked the field goal and won the game.

I need to mend my ways and remember that it isn't over 'till the fat lady sings...

Procrastination

This morning we woke to a blizzard. Driving visibility was nonexistent. Wax paper replaced the windshield for most of the drive due to road salt and snow flakes blocking the view; all but a small patch along the bottom where the defroster worked overtime to keep it clear.

When a splash of water, from a vehicle passing alongside, attempted to clear the line of sight, the windshield wiper skimmed over it without even touching the windshield. Not only were the wipers warped, but a touch of the washer switch produced nothing but the high pitched noise from the pump; fluid reservoir empty.

An hour and a half of constant tension due to faulty safety equipment (normally a 40-45 minute drive) and I arrived safely at work. To make matters worse, the commute home last night took two hours and fifteen minutes due to a storm just as fierce. So, you might ask, why wasn't I better prepared?

While I was safely at work, a brand new bottle of windshield washer fluid sat in the garage next to where I park the car and brand new windshield wipers lie on the floor in the back seat.

Procrastination...this time it could have been deadly.

I Miss My Friends

I miss my friends. Especially K in AZ and K in Japan.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could have every friend we've ever had, remain in our lives? I don't mean staying home and nobody leaving the 'hood. I mean all those people you meet as you move through life. Those who move into your world, and those whose world you move into. If only we could have lunch with them once a week.

Don't get me wrong, I still maintain contact with distant friends. It's much easier with email, IM, cell phones, and blogs to stay in touch; but it still isn't the same as having them around.

I know. The only thing constant is change. But I still miss them all.

Who Are Your Freeway Buddies?

Have you looked around you, in the morning, on your way to work? Through the darkness, amid the rush of traffic hastily making its way to somewhere; have you taken the time to notice who are your freeway buddies?

It's dark when I finally drag myself out of bed and into the Mercury Sable to make my way to work weekday mornings. It's the best I can do to just keep my eyes open, but this morning, I looked around. I saw darkened faces, illuminated only by light coming from dashboard gauges, or the momentary application of brakes in the vehicle in front of them. Cars, moving in unison--patterns emerging as they merge, and turn, and rush to their destinations. The morning commuters club. Off to work and school.

My mind flashes to a scene from the movie, The Witness, with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. You know the scene: the barn raising. Amish families, all gathering at the farm of the newlyweds, to build a barn in one day. Neighbors, friends, and strangers together, all moving toward the spot where they'll raise a building, tools and supplies in hand. All in common migration toward the barn.

We are like those Amish folks. Neighbors, friends, and strangers together, all moving toward the spot where we'll raise our buildings, tools and supplies in hand...

It Wasn't A Good Day

Still feeling pretty bad, but had to go to work anyway. Tried to avoid getting too close to people to spare them from catching the germs. Instead, they caught my bad attitude.

I hate it. Something important to my life was supposed to happen at work today. So I pulled myself out of bed, drug myself through all the morning rituals, skipped breakfast, and like a true champion showed up at my desk ready to roll.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, and nothing happened. At least, not what I sacrificed a day of rest and recuperation for. The hands of the clock barely moved. Time seemed to stand still.

Due to the anticipation, I did everything I could to add more stress to my day: confrontations with people over issues I couldn't even clarify, hallway gossip conversations to spread unneeded ill will, and just general overall ugliness.

It wasn't a good day.

Why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we sabotage ourselves when it is just as easy to start the day with a great attitude? OK, tomorrow I will take a good attitude to work with me, no matter what does or doesn't happen during the day.

Sick Day

Of course it would happen. I must have mentioned to someone that I hadn't been sick in a long time; therefore, it happened. I spent last night with a terrible sore throat and sandpaper cough. I sneezed half my head off. I'd post a picture, but it would gross you out.

I've been in bed all day today. The trash cans surrounding me are filled to the brim with wadded up facial tissues. Ka-chooooooo. Ah-chooooooo. A couple of empty boxes, adorned with white and pink flowers on a pale blue background--hummingbirds flittering from flower to flower-- peek out from under all the tissues. Does a decorative box mean that the tissues are better than those in a plain box?

Got to get better for work tomorrow. So, this post is short. Like this cold, I hope.

Tis The Season...

Have You Ever Returned A Gift?

At our team pot luck yesterday, everyone filled out a questionnaire about the people in the room, on the premise that it would stimulate conversation. The questionnaire contained probing questions about Christmas.

One of the questions wanted to know if anyone had returned a Christmas present given to them last year. The question made me think. I have not been guilty of returning a present, but I am guilty of selling a few items later, when I thought I needed the cash more than the gift.

I'd gotten plenty of use from the gift, I just thought I didn't need it anymore (or had some other lame rationalization for getting rid of it). What comes to mind are a portable typewriter and a set of golf clubs. Both gifts came from my parents, on the hope that either would spur me on to a successful career. Well, I'm not Tiger Woods.

My father used to tell me that if I invested my time and energy in the game of golf as a youth, I'd have life "by the tail." Unfortunately, even though my father's advice was always top-notch, I failed to find the action plan to make it happen.

The typewriter was the result of my childhood dream--I always wanted to be a newspaper reporter. It was a beautiful machine. My typewriter was pale blue, with white keys, and a black textured case that protected it as I bounced around with it from place to place. The roller turned smoothly when you spun the dial at the end of the carriage. The carriage return arm made a slight clicking noise when you slammed it home upon completing another line of prose. I loved that typewriter. I never became Ernest Hemingway or Bob Woodward.

When I typed on that typewriter I employed the hunt and peck technique. It didn't bother me. I once watched a prominent newspaper editor, from the town I grew up in, use the same technique to write an editorial for the days deadline. I never became a newspaper reporter, but I did become a writer.

I'm not sure what I wanted that prompted me to sell those items. Today I am writing this on my Compaq laptop and I haven't golfed in years. Times change and the typewriter and golf clubs are but a memory. But oh, what a sweet memory.

FORE!

Where Do You Come Up With Your Best Ideas?

Where do you come up with your best ideas? Writing a blog every day requires a lot of inspiration. I find location is the most important thing for me when I want to generate ideas.

The best location for me is one in motion. I think best in my car, on the freeway, during my daily 45 mile commute (one way). I don't know what it is about being in a moving vehicle that stimulates my thought-provoking brain cells, but it works for me. Does the "free" in freeway stand for free-flowing ideas?

Maybe it's the motion of the vehicle, other vehicles whirring past, or the sound of music flowing out of the car stereo that gets me thinking. Maybe it's the sense of freshness first thing in the morning--a rested mind with plenty of empty space for new thoughts. Maybe it's the fullness of a mind after a long excruciating day amidst the cubicles that continues to generate new ideas.

Whatever it is, it works.

Writers Write

Well, I've put this off all day and I'm running out of day. I made a goal of writing in this blog every day so I guess I'd better get started.

Attempting to put my thoughts down in digital ink day after day is extremely hard for me. It's like trying to do situps. I know how good it is for me, but anticipating the pain involved usually persuades me otherwise.

I know the formula, butt in chair - fingers on keyboard, but that is much more difficult for me to do than it sounds.

After whining to my wife last night about it, she said, "Like I tell my writing students, writers write!" I didn't need that. I wanted sympathy.

I spend all day at work writing for a living and the thought of another session at the keyboard when I get home isn't very inviting. This makes me feel guilty because I think that if I really wanted to write, I'd be driven to it no matter how I feel. I don't just want to write; I want to write fiction.

I've always been a writer. Even though I make my living as a writer, I know that technical writing isn't fiction writing. I'd really like to be a fiction writer. Fiction writers get all the glory. Although, I have made a lot more money in my career than the fiction writers that I have met.

Of course, I've never met Stephen King or Amy Tan.

Hats, Hats, Hats

Some people have hair. Thick, shiny, full-bodied head cover that they can run a comb through.

Some lucky stiffs even get to have beautiful babes run their long, finely-manicured fingers through their hair. But not me. My head is hair-challenged. Little or none of the stuff on top. Not yet a shiny chrome dome. Plenty on the face, just sparse on top.

Now I'm not bitter. It has been coming for a long time. They say you get your hair, or lack thereof, from your maternal grandfather. I should have paid more attention to those old family photos.

I have a solution to the problem. I wear hats. Lots and lots of hats. Baseball hats most of the time.

I have hats from my favorite teams (baseball, basketball, football, and racing), places I've visited, places friends have visited, military services, automotive parts sponsorships, schools I attended, schools I didn't attend, and companies I've worked for...just to name a few.

They inhabit boxes in the garage, fill closet shelves, hang behind closet doors and on the kitchen wall, lying around here and there. I keep spares in the car and at work, just in case.

Some are signed. Some are grease and oil-stained. One even still has the price tag hanging on it. But the most amazing thing of all is that if anyone has noticed, no one has ever said, that I seldom wear the same hat for more than a few days at a time.

So if you ever have to get me a present, but don't have any idea what to buy, I think you'll now have a good idea of what to get me.

I Have Great Neighbors

I have some great neighbors. We don't see each other as much as I'd like to since we are all so busy with modern day life challenges. It isn't like the olden days when you could stroll down the block, see each other on the porch, and call out a greeting. We don't always see each other out and about, but none of us is ever too busy to wave and call out a greeting when we do see each other. Usually from a vehicle cruising down the street.

Since the last big snowstorm, our neighbor two houses down left us all a fun reminder of his presence. He and the kids built a wonderful snow sculpture on the front lawn.

There it sits, large and looming, a two section profile of a man with a big smile and a shiny bald head. It greets all who pass by (at least until the sun terminates its existence).

It's a fun rendition of a traditional snow man, but what makes it so great is that it looks just like him. Well, as close as a snow sculpture can look. I don't feel bad saying so either, because he admitted when I told him that, that upon showing a photo of it to his mom she asked him why he made a snow sculpture of himself. How fun.

Thanks neighbor for the chuckle.

If It's On Amazon I Must Be Famous

This past week, while Googling my name in a lull between projects, I came across something very interesting...something I wrote is being sold on Amazon.com!

It's true, I've always wanted to be a famous writer. If I were a famous writer, I would not have to drag myself out of bed every morning to go to my job. Instead, I would get up in the morning, bright and early, wipe the goop from my eyes, and saunter over to my beautiful cherry-wood roll-top writing desk.

After sharpening a zillion yellow #2 pencils, I would take a deep breath, arrange all of my famous writer writing tools in front of me, and wait for inspiration to take over.

Of course, I'd have to pause in-between interviews with Writer's Digest Magazine and the Nobel Prize Committee before putting my daily quota of words on paper.

Yes, I said pencil and paper. Famous writers write everything by hand and have a really cool assistant enter it all into the computer.

So here I was, Googling my name and discovering that Amazon.com is selling book reviews I wrote for the journal of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) for $5.99 each.

I suppose being the digital age, you can package anything digital and put a price on it. That doesn't mean that anyone will actually put down the greenbacks for the privilege of reading one of my book reviews, but who cares?

I can go to Amazon.com, and there, among names like Stephen King, Ken Follett, and J.K. Rowling find book reviews written by ME.

If it's on Amazon, I must be famous!

Guess What It's Doing Outside!

Books, Books, Books

My life is like an open book...

No, actually I lied. My life is like MANY open books - hardbound, of course, with hand-stitched binding, gold leaf embossed calf leather covers, and gold edged pages.

In my life, books are everywhere. When I wake in the morning and ease myself up onto the edge of the bed, I don't reach for my robe, slippers, or eyeglasses as others may do, I reach out to the bookcase inches from my pillow and pick out one of the many books strewn across the top of it or within the shelves below. Depending on my mood, I might grab one from the stacks scattered across the floor beneath my feet instead.

As I pick it up I gently stroke its cover, fan its pages, and maybe even bring it up to my nose and take a good, long whiff... I know, it's a sickness only book lovers could understand.

This book accompanies me through my morning journey - breakfast, bath, shave, etc. Although, it's probably not the book I will stuff into my backpack with the many others already in there to accompany me on my journey through the work day.

At work, my cubicle contains a bookshelf full of books, a desktop bookshelf with its own collection of books, and yes, books lying around in various places on the desk and office table opposite it - technical books, career-oriented books, self-help books, and a couple of good novels hidden in their midst.

When I get a spare moment, I hide myself inside their world. At the end of the day, I pack up all my stuff, including any books I think I might want to read at home, and tackle the commute. If I could, I'd prop a book on the dashboard and read my way home. But I want to make it home alive.

Some people would say I should listen to books on my way home...get real! How can you FEEL an audio book? A book is something tangible, something you can hold in your hands. Its firm binding and striking cover invite you to open its doors and find out for yourself what awaits inside for you. Like life events, what you find inside a book, can be exciting, dangerous, humorous, informative, or just plain dull. It contains a wonderful world.

Authors become your best friend, as you devour every word coming out of their mind, to paper, to your mind. Reading every word of everything they publish.

When I arrive home in the evening I fit my book worshipping in between dinner hour, sports on TV, or whatever other activity we have planned.

Night time is the reverse ritual of morning. If a day goes by that I cannot get a little reading in before I close my eyes at night, I feel incomplete.

Yes, a book is within arms reach at all times. Waiting for me to open its covers and dive in. So there you have it. I have admitted my sickness. It's books, books, books...

Let Us Remember...

It has been 66 years since the 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. Please take a few moments and remember those who gave their lives in this important event in the history of our country.

Hopefully, someday the unfortunate events of September 11, 2001 will become such a memory and our relationship with our middle eastern brothers and sisters will become as our relationship with the Japanese is today.

God Bless America

Are You Eco-Conscious?

One of my favorite blogs is Work in Progress written by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, a New York-based staff writer for TIME.

In yesterday’s blog, “At least my marriage is green,” Lisa talks about eco-consciousness, or her version, eco-anxiousness. In it, she introduces her readers to yet another blog, Green as a Thistle written by Canadian journalist Vanessa Farquharson.

Being the blog-stud that I am, I surfed over to Vanessa’s blog. Here is her story, in her own words:

“I decided to take on a bit of a challenge: Spend each day, for an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment. The idea is that everything I do, I keep doing (so if I switch brands, it's a permanent switch; if I turn down my thermostat, I keep it down), so that by day 365, I'll be living as green a lifestyle as it gets. I hope, in the end, this proves that being an environmentalist doesn't necessarily have to require massive change, compromise or Greenpeace levels of dedication — it can be simple, and inspiring.”

Now there’s a noble challenge. Reading Vanessa’s blog makes me even more aware that I am NOT an eco-conscious person. My wife and I recycle paper and aluminum cans, but other than that we may be guilty of not doing our share of making the planet any “greener.”

The only evidence that we even attempt to save our environment is in my cubicle at work. As you enter my cubicle something odd strikes you right away. The work table opposite my desk looks like it is about to be levitated by an enormous plastic bag bulging with multi-colored aluminum pop cans. A couple more cans and the table legs will lift right off the ground.

Now I’m not talking about one of the little garbage can bags we all use in our kitchen, or a recycled grocery bag. This plastic receptacle of precious recyclable metals is the size of a LARGE bean bag chair!

My dilemma is this, if I attempt to move it, I may incur a hernia or sustain major back injury. Then, if I am actually able to get it out from under the table, imagine the spectacle of me, dragging it down the hall, bouncing it down the stairs, and after getting it the quarter of a mile to my car, trying to stuff it into the back seat. Think about stuffing a gigantic sleeping bag into its stuff sack and you’ll get the picture.

The other option is to chicken out and tell the cleaning lady to haul it away, which will result in it being tossed out with all the other trash, eliminating the whole reason for hanging on to the cans in the first place.

We don’t usually redeem the cans ourselves. We find some youth in the neighborhood who wants to earn a few extra bucks and let them cash them in.

So, if you think about it, we ARE like Vanessa in our own humble way. Our motives actually ARE “green” and not driven by the urge to make a quick buck. Does that make us eco-SEMI-conscious?

Cruise Countdown Continues

I was talking to someone at work today who is going on a cruise the same day we are except she is going to the Western Carribean on a different cruise line.

Like us, they got hit with an extra surcharge for gas. After you pay for a cruise, travel insurance, tips, excursions, and your transportation to get to the cruise an extra surcharge for gas just seems to go overboard.

We both agreed that it might be a while before we go very far from home unless gas prices come down. I wonder how many people feel the same way.

I think that 2008-2009 will be hard on the travel industry as a whole. If we didn't already pay for our cruise and flights we'd be watching the port web cam (see picture, that's the Elation - our ship - on the left) in San Diego instead of being there...

What are you going to do?

Cruise Countdown

It isn't fair to say that I have begun our cruise countdown, because I have been counting down since we stepped off the NCL Star in January... maybe I can say I have begun the final countdown.

In a couple of days it will be less than two months until our next cruise. I am ready. I am more than ready. Already, I am thinking about what pictures I want to take, what I might want to buy in Mexico, and downloading maps of the towns we will visit.

I have gone to the San Diego port web cam every day since we booked the trip and watch as the Elation comes and goes on its journeys. I have seen the ship from the camera eye view, but not the port from the ships eye view.

I need some fresh shrimp, tres leches, and to see the sights and hear the sounds of Todos Santos and La Paz, two of the ports that we've not been to yet.

Can't wait...

Throw It Away And Someone Will Ask For It!

I swear that it happens to me all the time. I was clearing a bunch of old files and books out of the office a couple of weekends ago. As I was shredding papers and putting others into the recycle pile along with the books, I said to my wife, "You watch, in a week someone will ask me for this!"

Sure enough, on Saturday morning, a week later, a friend of mine asked me for something that was in that pile. I had been holding on to it for two years, yet the minute I threw it out, someone wanted it.

It happens to me every time! How am I ever going to convince myself to get rid of all the junk I have been hanging on to for all these years?

Oh Ye of Little Faith

Ever want to just run away from it all? And yet, nothing is really that bad?

In a discussion today with a couple of good friends, I decided that my real problem was that I lack faith. Sometimes, I'll look at challenges and think how difficult they are, then decide in my mind that I just can't do it. I lack the faith in myself and give up before I get started.

Why do we do this?

Snowstorm Service

Woke up this morning to a full blown snowstorm. Since we had previously scheduled a service day for the young men for this morning it worked out well.

All bundled up, the six boys, me, and the other two adult leaders wandered around the neighborhood with snow shovels in hand. We didn't keep count, but counting in my head, relying on my poor memory, we shovelled between 15 and 20 sidewalks and driveways in about an hour and a half. And threw many times that number of snowballs.

The snow fell continuously. It was a good thick snow that accumulated about six inches on the ground. In fact, it was still snowing out there as evening approached.

We weren't the only ones out in the snow. Neighbor families were out playing in the snow. The kids were making snowmen while mom and dad shovelled. It was fun to share a little small talk in the morning.

OK, I have to admit that I didn't shovel any snow. A threat was made on my life, by the wife, prior to the event if I shovelled any snow. But I did share in the hot chocolate and donuts at Krispy Kreme when we were done.

Good job boys! Service makes us stronger, in body and in spirit.

Loyalty - A thing of the past?

I finally did it! I replaced the old worn out tires on my car with some brand spanking new ones. Whatever "brand spanking" new is...

I could have gone to any of the local tire shops that abound in my neighborhood and purchased tires, but I waited until I could travel the 20 miles to MY mechanic's shop to get them.

In spite of the convenience of online shopping, and the deals that the superstores advertise, I feel that the relationships I have developed over the years with people like Brent, my mechanic, are worth more than anything else.

I can get tires a dollar or two cheaper somewhere else, but I can follow Brent around the shop as he works on my car, and the others in the shop that day, and discuss important things like NASCAR, professional baseball, and racing engines.

As we wander around the shop, I can take in the sites and smells of a working garage - I can peer into the open hoods and check out the engine compartments, I can walk under the cars perched on the lifts and inspect their undersides, and best of all I can look through those gigantic tool chests at all the neat tools of the trade.

Besides working in a restaurant, working as a mechanic has always been one of those things I thought I might have enjoyed doing. This is the third shop Brent has owned or worked at since my wife and I met him. As he has moved, we have followed him. We trust him with our vehicles.

Of course, I still take into consideration getting a good value for my shrinking dollar, but that usually comes along with the kind of people I have been lucky enough to build strong relatonships with. Brent is my friend. Even though we only see him a couple times a year, I value his friendship.

Loyalty. In today's world, I think we need more of it.

Blogging Thoughts

The Blogosphere has captured my full attention. I’ve made it through the first week of posting and I am excited about sharing my thoughts online.

As a confessed bookaholic I picked up a couple of books on blogging and have been scouring them and the blogs on blogging to learn all I can about this brave new world.

Bob Walsh has some good advice in his book, “Clear Blogging,” and on his blog at http://clearblogging.com. If you see me tweaking things on a daily basis it is because I have read something that educated me just a little bit more. I will still make amateur mistakes and overdo things as I try out new widgets and features. It will all calm down in time.

A distinct voice, I feel, will also come along with time. Thanks, Kelli, for the sound advice about being patient and waiting for it to develop. I’ve appreciated comments from people very much and hope to soon get the trackback and comment etiquette part of it all.

I love Bob’s words in his book, “The reason the number of people blogging keeps doubling every five months…is that blogging gives us a new way to communicate, to share, to influence, to connect, to outrage, to matter.”

Count me in!

Founders Quiz

I love reading books about how companies began their lives.

My favorites are about companies in the high tech industry - since that is where I’ve spent the majority of my career. I am currently reading the “The Google Story” by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed on my Palm T/X, something I would never have endorsed in theory, until I tried it myself.

I love traditional paper and ink books. I love the look, the feel, and the smell of them. I love turning the pages and taking them in and out of the book shelf at the library or my favorite book store. But for the sake of convenience, I also like a good electronic book. I can slip it into my shirt pocket and read it at times when I couldn’t, or shouldn’t, be seen reading a book. I’ll let you be the judge of when those times could be.

The Google Story takes me back many years to the beginning of my career when I daydreamed about working in the next garage development lab. I wanted to work next to the greatest whiz kids of my generation. Late nights at the computer banging out code, or bent over breadboards designing the next big electronic thing-a-ma-jig.

See if you can match some of the founders with their companies.


Don't peek at the answers!



A-6, B-8, C-1, D-2, E-3, F-7, G-5, H-4

First Snowstorm Has Arrived

The first snowstorm of November has arrived and that usually means a traffic-headache filled commute. Since the weather people guessed that the storm would hit about the time of the evening commute - I planned for it. First thing in the morning I told the boss I was out of there as soon as the storm started to roll in.

I checked the weather radar web site throughout the day and raced home just in front of the storm. I left work in snow and arrived home, 50 miles later, in sunshine. Great planning. Of course the storm caught up with me, but I could now watch it out the living room window.

Snow and snowstorms during the commute are not my favorite thing. I am a warm weather man, but I love Utah and will put up with it. The good thing about the snowy season is that it is also Christmas music season! I do love to listen to Christmas music to and from work. Yes, that is me you see singing along with the songs. Don't tell anyone! Tis the season!

Passion - You Got It?

Lately, I've wondered if there was any passion left in my soul.

Same routine day in and day out. Work, no travel, no excitement, nothing out of the ordinary happening here. Just spending a lot of time at home, reading on the couch in front of the TV, or surfing the Internet on the laptop.

But something stirred the passions this weekend. A good old football rivalry game! It was pretty ugly football most of the game. It looked like the home town team would win sooner or later in a duel of field goal kickers. Then the visiting team turned it on, scoring a touchdown and going ahead by one point with a couple minutes left in the game.

The doubting Thomas attitude came out full strength and the blame game began. "It was the coaches dumb decisions," I told the wife. "They HAD this one," I added. And true to form, three downs and no progress. There they sat. Fourth and 18 on their own 12 yard line. The expletives were coming fast and strong. Unlike the home team... I gave up and conceded the victory to the opponents.

And then it happened. With barely a minute left in the game, the quarterback scrambles to his right...looking for a receiver...let's the ball fly...for a 49 yard first down reception! My heart beating faster and faster, adrenaline rushing through my body, and my head throbbing wildly. They had a chance! Oh ye of little faith! I was alive again. A football game had ignited the passion once again.

They scored a couple plays later, and with a two-point conversion forced the visitors to make a touchdown instead of a field goal to be able to tie or win the game. It didn't happen. The home town team held the visitors and triumphed in the end. I danced jubilantly around the living room.

Life is back to normal today. Work is work and the commute is the same. For just a moment in the middle of the day, I thought back to the last seconds of the game and the passion was alive again!

Smart Car - I Want One

I am tired of wasting money on gas commuting 100 miles round trip to work every weekday. The announcement that the Smart fortwo car will be coming to the US in 2008 has me intrigued.
I saw one on a trip to Japan and would love the 40 mpg (average highway and city) and under $15,000 price tag that it affords.
Being 6 ft 2 in and over 200 lb might be a challenge, but years ago I commuted in a GEO Metro and that worked. Can't wait to see one in a showroom!
For now I will have to just check in at http://www.smartusa.com/ for a sneak peek.

Weight Loss Plateau - Help Needed

I have been on Weight Watchers for a couple of years now. My wife and I religiously attend our weekly meetings and read nutrition labels like pros. I initially lost 90 pounds, but over the last six months I have gained back about 20. Part of the problem is that I injured my shoulder and my back (rotator cuff tear and chronic compression fracture). But the real problem is lack of following the solid weight watchers principles that got me here. I need motivation to begin tracking my points again and getting the daily exercise (even when it hurts the injuries).

My eating habits are definitely better than they ever have been. I need to get going again on the weight loss track. Can somebody out there in blog land tell me the secret to staying on track long term?

The Times Are A Changing

I can tell the grandkids that I started using computers in the olden days. The first personal computers I used only had cassette drives for memory and professionally it was server-based word processors on Wang workstations.

The first PC-based word processor I ever used as a technical writer was PC Write with ASCII text files and embedded control codes for bolding, italics, etc. WSIWIG was unheard of. It pains me to admit that I was around when the first IBM PC was revealed. It makes me feel very old.

Shoot forward many years and today I am sitting in front of my laptop watching a collegiate rivalry football game on cable TV and surfing the Internet for blogs of interest. Oh, and did I mention IMing with my friend and ex-coworker in Japan who happens to be listening to the same football game (tomorrow morning our time) on his laptop PC?

When I began cable TV, the Internet, and blogs were not household words. To use a computer, I would have to go to a user group meeting and migrate from table to table watching others on their computers and wait for an offer to take their place at the keyboard. Today, we have two laptops and a desktop computer at home (not to mention two Palm handhelds). Even our cell phones do more today than those early PCs!

Anything I can learn about blogs has been an insatiable desire. Although my goal is to hone my writing skills with this blog, I am curious about what others are doing with their blogs. I want to know about voice, ads, interactivity, trends, techniques, and all the other things that go into a successful blog.

So, the journey has begun. Daily blogging will help me to improve the writing skills while lots of Internet research reading other blogs will help me to make this blog more successful.

Hold on for the ride.

Black Friday

FOUR A.M. Darkness is well upon us. It's too cold , and too early, to be standing outside in a slight breeze with hundreds of crazy, anxious parents waiting to capture a bargain for Christmas. At least the snow hasn't come yet.

With an hour to go before the store opens the front doors, people are gathering across the parking lot road to find a gap in the seemingly endless line and slip in when the crowds begin to move. They are the special people, you know them, the ones who think that the rules are for the rest of us. We are the only ones who need to wait patiently in line. They are the ones who are so important they can butt ahead of us!

When the lady behind me in line gets into a match of wits with one of the line-crashers I just cinch up the draw string on my jacket and bite my lip. People are so funny. I don't mean in the humorous way either.

The morning's activities take me back to my teenage years. Working retail for ten years - from high school through college and young married life - made me hate the Christmas season.

Watching people push and shove, scream and scowl, trying to be the first to get that bargain kinda takes the goodness out of it all. But the worst of all was the day I had to arrest the grandmother trying to sneak out the IN door with a cart full of gifts for her grandchildren. She couldn't afford Christmas and with the pressures put on us to give, give, give, even when we can't, she resorted to attempting to steal something for her family. It was a sad day for me. The pressures of want sometimes overwhelm the voice of reason.

Ten years of Black Friday's did me in. It has only been during the last couple of years that I have been able to listen to Christmas music on the radio and hum along with the tunes on my way to work in the morning.

I remember the Christmas mornings at our house growing up. We kids would get up early and anxiously wait in our bedrooms until Mom and Dad finally gave up and got up themselves. Mom and Dad would go downstairs before us to turn on the Christmas tree lights and put on the Christmas music. We kids would line up, youngest to oldest, and on command would march down to the living room where Christmas awaited.

I can still see the picture in my mind of Christmas morning in our house. With six kids, and later one or more of the cousins, colorfully wrapped presents began at the base of the tree and flowed out into the room taking up half of the living room. There were always plenty of presents. Mom and Dad made sure of that.

Each of us found our spot as one of us passed the presents, one at a time, around the room. We all watched the current present holder open their gift. Christmas morning lasted a good long time. I remember that the presents were even coded with a number in case Santa forgot to put a name on one of them!

When it was all over we had a big Christmas breakfast and then it was get dressed and off to the neighbor kid's to see what they got from Santa Claus.

Well, this post makes it sound more like Christmas day than Black Friday... maybe it will get us all in the mood for a good Christmas season; a season of joy, and love, and remembrance; maybe we can forget the hustle and bustle of shopping and trying to make sure we get that new Nintendo game or pretty pink dolly so as not to dissappoint a young child.

Maybe this year we can all remember the real meaning of Christmas - the young child lying in a manger. Peace. Love to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's here again. Time to give thanks. It seems like time flys nowadays. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Life is funny. I was thinking this morning about all those family and loved ones who have passed away and what I remember of them. What were their strengths? What were their weaknesses? What did we gain from our relationship? What do I miss most about them? I thought about how I want my kids to remember me and asked myself what I am doing to give them good things to remember.
What did I do to take advantage of my parents life experiences? I let their busy lives and mine take over our days. There were so many things I didn't know about them and their parents and grandparents. Now it is probably lost to me.
And brother Bob. I was excited to work with him on our family genealogy. He left us too young.
If only I could have a day to share with them and say all the things I wanted to say to them but didn't think about until I was peering over their final earthly resting places. I should have thanked them while they were still here with us for all the things I loved about them.
Thank you all my friends and family for all you do for me. Whether you are here in Utah, Japan, or across the country, I love you all and hope we get to share some happiness together again real soon.

Where Have You Been?

Now that I have the hang of this blogging thing, where have you traveled? What are your favorite vacation spots? Why do you like to travel?

First Post...Hopefully Not The Last

I established this blog a while ago. I have not posted to it yet. I need to write more often and so maybe this blog will allow me to do this.

I enjoy reading the blogs from people around the world, especially in Mexico and Japan. Having visited both, and would love to visit more often, I am very interested in what people say about life in the two countries.

We will be returning to Mexico on our cruise in February 08. The cruise will be too short. We booked a 5 day Carnival cruise to Baja, Mexico because we wanted the itinerary. We will be sailing on the Carnival Elation.

The Elation is the same ship layout as the Ecstasy which was the first ship we cruised on. Home port is San Diego, CA and we will visit La Paz, Ensenada, and Cabo. We have visited Ensenada once and Cabo twice. We will be taking a trip to Todos Santos, an artists colony, instead of spending the day in Cabo when we arrive.

I love to take photographs when I travel. I look forward to taking plenty of photographs of the people and the architecture.

I wanted to learn spanish before we returned to Mexico. I bought workbooks, CDs and a computer program. None of these seemed to work for me. Now, three months away and I am no closer to knowing any spanish.

When we visit Puerta Villarta we eat at a great little seafood restaurant: the Blue Shrimp. A wonderful restaurant. I hope we can find at least one good restaurant on this trip. Fresh shrimp is one of my favorites.

Anyone out there with any ideas? Not that anyone will be able to see this blog...