Life and toilet tissue

No where is the rule of life more apparent than in the bathroom!

Yeah, I know. It may sound a little goofy but that's the way I see it. There is a popular book out entitled: "Who Moved My Cheese". In the bathroom it is more acurately: "Who used the last of the tissue and didn't replace the roll?" Many people I have listened to spend a lot of time and effort in trying to blame bad stuff on somebody else. Who emptied the peanut butter jar and didn't tell anyone? Who drank the last drop of milk and put the empty carton back in the refrigerator? Who at the bank made a mistake and caused the overdraft in my account? It always seems to be someone elses fault. Or, rather maybe we always want it to be someone elses fault. Does that make it easier to accept? Is it that we believe if it was us we are less of a perfect person? Seldom is it more of a problem than in the bathroom. We simply don't want to be the blame for something so inconsiderate do we? Well, I'm sorry to break our bubble but as often as not, it's us!

The rule of life, as I see it, is: We are responsible for our own actions.

If we find someone else to blame we don't have to look at our own short comings. Many people are uncomfortable with any type of change in their lives. Many people are caught up so much in carrying on and making a living and do things on an as needed basis. Being busy and distracted with the next thing we have to do to get by allows for times when we forget to do something as mundane as replacing an empty roll of toilet tissue. Not on purpose of course, simply too distracted to realize it's empty in the first place. Drinking the loast drop of milk or using the last spoonful of peanut butter can be completely overlooked. I know, I've done those things. But, when I discover what I've done and have forgotten I was the last one to use those things, often the very first thing that goes through my mind is, "Who did this?" "Not me!"

Is that human nature or is that a human failing? It's actually the rule of life. Survival is based on self protection. Self protection is based on our knowledge of protecting ourselves from anything out of the norm. Being prepared is a rule I learned in scouting. Well, probably first from my folks and then reinforced by scouting. I learned it early. When I buy pencils or ink pens, I always buy two so if one doesn't work I've got a back up. For more reasons than I can explain I have issues with running out of things and not having a back up.

I was prepared when the peanut butter was empty. There was more in the cupboard. When the tissue was empty, there was more within reach, but the milk on the other hand, was without back up. I had to drink black coffee. Just wait til I find out who was responsible and they better not have moved my cheese if they know what's good for them. I mean like, it's breaking the rule of life isn't it?

The invisible bicycle rider

Riding a bicycle instead of driving a car makes a lot of sense in many situations. Saving gas, no pollution, exercises the body, refreshing to the mind, downright inspirational and eases stress. I enjoy bicycling regularly. Many of my friends ride also. It's a thing with us. I applaud anyone that makes bike riding a part of their life for whatever reason. Except, the invisible guy on the invisible bike.

Doesn't make sense does it? Invisibility is impossible right? Nope, actually invisibility is possible. On a bicycle in the dark hours of the early morning on an unlit road anyway. Most often I drive to work. Biking is impractical sometimes due to weather, health or time restraints. My route to work varies depending on my before work errands. One such route brings me down a rather dark, busy, industrial access street with several commercial businesses scattered along it's curbed pavement. It's wide enough for two vehicles and has several view hampered curves with driveways for each business. Really not much in the way of streetlights. For a long time, perhaps a year or so, a lone figure of a man has either walked or biked down that street in the dark. On the way to work from the bus no doubt. He always wears dark clothes. When he is walking he walks against traffic and a vehicle comes upon him quickly and without warning, often swerving to avoid him. I've seen it many times. When the weather allows, he rides a bike. Now picture this: Dark, no street lights, dark clothes, dark painted bicycle, absolutely no lighting on the bike, not so  much as a reflector front or back. After swerving myself to avoid a car swerving to miss him, I stopped one day to explain to him what a danger he was to himself and the vehicles traveling on that road. Evidently he does not understand English. Total conversational confusion. Too bad. English or not, I really wanted to tell him he was an idiot, totally lacking in common sense. After swerving again today, my next step is to call the police to see if there is some way to prevent the inevitable tragedy that will surely come.

If you ride a bike, and I hope you do, use some sense and don't be invisible OK?

Ozzie and Castro

Every day, hundreds, perhaps thousands of people right here in the United States declare their love for Good Old Fidel Castro. No matter how or why a dictator or general or other totalitarian ruler maintains control, there are people who extol their virtues. It's not against the law, at least not yet to say stuff like that in this country. Ozzie the baseball guy is being suspended, without pay for some things he said in an interview about U.S. citizens and Castro. He's being hung out to dry by the national media too. Does that reason seem right to you? I'm a little uncomfortable with it myself. I think his comments were indicative of his controversial nature anyway. It's not like he hasn';t raised eyebrows in the past with stupid, ill timed and off color statements. Actually he is pretty much a loose canon when it comes to what comes out of his mouth. For those in the know what he said was no real surprise. Never-the-less free speech is, according to our constitution a lawful right. Love it or hate it, he had the right to say what he said. Now he's being punished for it.

Now lets turn to the church members that go to funerals and disrupt the grieving of the family and friends of the deceased with terrible derogatory signs and singing and general disruption. The damage and pain they cause is indescribable. It's legal. They go unpunished.

Occasionally someone is put in jail because they say something derogatory against someone else because it is considered unlawful to say what it is that they said.

I'm just sayin'. Stupid is one thing, chastise the guy for saying something stupid.

We have to be very careful here. The Constitution says we are guaranteed free speech. However, in the few short years I've been around I have seen that there are truly those that wish to impose their power over us in restricting what we say. I have yet to see the part in the constitution that describes just who the speech police are and what their powers are. I'm just sayin'. But Ozzie is still a loose canon.

Holy Saturday, what's it all about anyway?

Here we are right in the middle of Easter weekend, Holy Saturday. Good Friday is past and Easter Sunday is yet to come. Pretty much nothing happens on Holy Saturday does it? It took me a long time to realize the reason for that:

Once upon a time, during my child rearing years a friend gave me a surprise entre' for my family's dinner sometime. "Great on the grill" he said. He had a small farm just south and east of Grand Rapids. He raised specialty food for a specific clientele. Many of his customers were first generation immigrants and simply wanted fresh comfort food from their homeland. He would grow the items to their exact specifications, for a very good price. It made him a good living as well as very interesting. I frankly couldn't afford any of his food on our family budget. As long ago as it was, he was getting $10 for a five pound bag of specialty potatoes, $8 to $10 a pound for the meat. Eggs were $2 a dozen when they were selling at the supermarket for 39 cents. That's why it took me by surprise that he gave me a package of fresh meat, probably about 4 or 5 pounds. Be that as it may after thanking him I took it home to my family. My wife said, "No way was I cooking that around our children, especially on Easter weekend!" That was that. I put it in the freezer and cooked it later that summer on a canoe trip with other adults, no kids. I can tell you, that grilled rabbit was absolutely superb.

Oh yeah, the reason nothing happens on Holy Saturday is that it is a day of waiting. For some reason I missed that in my religious education. Thursday was the remembrance of the Last Supper and the washing of feet, Good Friday is the Passion and death of Christ. (It was always said by the older folks that at noon on Good Friday the clouds would come in and cover the sun. I didn't find that to always happen though.) And the Easter Sunday was all happy and filled with celebration because it recognized that Christ rose from the dead. But Holy Saturday was quiet. No church services until late in the evening. Everything was shut down. It is supposed to be that way but I missed the concept. Now that I more fully understand I can participate the way it is meant to be. Holy Saturday is teaching me patience and appreciation for what was done for me. A day to prepare for a better life. And perhaps a day to become aware that grilling rabbit on Easter weekend isn't such a smart thing to do. Sometimes you just have to think things like that out.

Now it's time to try and publish this posting. Wish me luck. Happy Easter!

Things are happening around this blog site alright. I'm still nervous about any possible negative results resulting from my amateurish attempts at updating. Number one, I don't know what to expect. Number two, I don't know enough about what happens to know if a change is good or bad. Put that together and all I do know is that indeed some change has taken place, the blog seems to be operating and publishing and once again comments are being allowed. Navigating the new control panel is somewhat of a trial for me for the same reason I just mentioned and the template is foreign to my eyes.

All that being said: Back when I began this blog I needed someone at my side to help me with every move to keep me from voiding out the whole process. I have learned a thing or two and am confident enough to attempt it on my own. After all, what do I have to lose except hundreds of hours of writing history? I mean, what the heck anyway!

On an entirely different front, I have decided to learn more about personal finance and budget solutions. This Dave Ramsey guy gets people to yell out before the entire world that they are "DEBT FREE!" Most of them then speak about how they are going to prepare to accumulate money for their retirement years. All of that sounds wonderful to me except for one small part of that accumulation equation synopsis: I'm already well into that retirement age catagory. Also, the debt free thing is something I am not familiar with either. There is much to learn there I'm thinking. I made an appointment with a financial advisor that had been reccomended to me by a very successful business aquaintance. I put down the information she asked for and went. She looked the information over and for the next 45 minutes chewed me out about what I should have done in the past. "There wasn't much she could do but as a favor she'd try to do her best." I decided not to retain her services. In my mind it doesn't sound right when someone I am paying good money to infers they are doing me a favor.

this is the second attempt at publishing this posting. I guess the kinks ain't all worked out just yet are they.

Still here, I think. Blog repair

Having this wonderful blog site has been a boon to my ability to express myself and be in contact with others at any time, day or night. From close to home here in Western Michigan to Johannesburg in Southern Africa across the world again to Ukraine and off to the wilds of Australia, Alice Springs actually. With friends from my school years spread from New York to Hawaii to Alaska and most states in between this blog has been an excellent lightning rod of attraction and regular contact. Honing my ameteuristic writing skills, receiving constructive, and sometimes not so constructive criticism and bouncing ideas back and forth all at the same time. This incredible to me, medium of communication wasn't even thought of only a few decades ago.

All that being said, I am a person of little change when it comes to electronic wonders. That's why changing the settings on this blog site is so very intimidating. So far so good though. I made some adjustments yesterday and the computer is not smoking and from what I can tell amnesiawriter is still being published. So, on to a couple more changes. Ooh, even the thought of change gives me the creeps. SeeYaLater.....................I hope.

Fixing this blankety blank blog

I am going to attempt to update this blog site. To most of you that operation wouldn't be any big deal. For me, it's a major undertaking fraught with danger. What if I punch the wrong button? What if I send everything into the cloud and it never comes back? What if I do a total disconnect? There is no one here to stop me from incorrect actions. The terrible things that can happen are endless. I have no choice really though, the comment section is messed up, the counter section is messed up and interaction, which has always been so enjoyable and informative is messed up big time too. So, I am giving you ample notice that if this blog explodes I will eventually figure out another avenue of communication. Ah, the good old days when change took decades instead of weeks or days. So, here it goes. Bye for now. Wish me luck....................Later.....Joe