Home again!

"Be kind to your enemies: It messes with their heads!"

Well, alrighty then! What's been going on in the world in the past few weeks? Whatever it is certainly has taken me so far off the beaten track I haven't had time to be here. I hope to change that. At any rate I'm here now and just put the fingers to the keyboard and we'll discover stuff together OK?

The bicycle trip around Lake Michigan is on hold for the moment. Frankfort was my last stop. It'll all happen in good time but not just now. Geez! I certainly live in a beautiful state.

A fellow from England, Dave Mitchell sent me a few encouraging words regarding my book: Joe's Story. He says he found it amazing and heart warming. He also found it very informative and enlightening on the issue of carbon monoxide poisoning. He has a friend that contracted CO poisoning and had to be treated in a hyperbolic oxygen chamber but is doing fine now. Dave it seems owns Scarthin Books somewhere near London overlooking a scenic river. They have a site on the web. www.scarthinbooks.com

I've been very excited since receiving the news that Joe's Story has been chosen as a text book for a course at Grand Valley University. Adding to that was the honor of speaking with the students of that course this past Wednesday for several hours. After speaking there was a question and answer period. I was pleased to find how knowledgeable and serious those students were about the book, the story and life, choices and consequences. I hope to speak with them again in the near future regarding a more intense discussion of carbon monoxide.

Planning is not my strong suit. I have a friend that plans her day by the hour and maybe even minutes. She is happy and gets all kinds of stuff done that would be impossible for me to fit into a day. I really admire that. I don't even have a calendar I can write things on let alone an hour by hour appointment book. I've tried it ands it lasted for about an hour or so before my cluttered life got in the way and I didn't have time to write any more. Planning is a learned skill. I guess I'll have to plan enough time to learn that skill......................One of these days.

I had an Internet service provider for 13 years. Kind of a neat, albeit slow wireless unit that plugged into the computer. It really got slow the past year. The service, Altel was purchased several years ago by Verizon and they are discontinuing the service in the next month. I've known about it for over a year now and procrastinated on going in and transferring to Verizon. I feared the higher cost of 4G. I live on a budget and wasn't looking forward to giving up something else to get Internet service. An unfounded fear it turned out. After all was said and done, the new service is faster, much more flexible, far less restricting and last of all..............Cheaper than the older, slower service. Yea!

The political robo calls have me almost convinced to get caller ID. The political emails are a bit much too. Lets not us get involved in political stuff OK?

Go Tigers!........................SeeYaLaterGator!

A thief in the night

I live in a very nice, middle class neighborhood. We neighbors mostly know each other at least casually and the children run freely without fear. The yards are decorated with nic nacs and blooming flowers. Bicycles often lay on the grass over night where kids left them in a hurry to get to dinner or a TV show. As I said, it's a very nice neighborhood. Don't let that fool you though. Nice neighborhoods don't mean that you can become lax in keeping your things protected. I drive a nice car with a remote locking system. Almost every night just before I shuffle off to bed I pick up my key fob and push the lock button. It's almost a guaranteed habit. Several years ago a thief snuck into our back yard, opened the unlocked door of my car, threw my stuff all over the inside of my car, making a huge mess and also stole my cell phone, a camera, several tools and flashlights and about $10 in small bills and change I keep for minor emergencies like a snack attack or parking ramp. I felt violated but there wasn't a huge financial loss. I did proceed to purchase a remote door locking system to prevent that from happening again. I was diligent about locking the car and made it almost a habit. I would bet money that in the past three years I've only forgotten to lock the car three or four times at the most. Last night I forgot. Last night that thief sauntered into my back yard and opened the unlocked door of my car, only three feet from my back door mind you, stole about $10 in cash, a camera containing priceless pictures of my bicycle trip around Lake Michigan and my two granddaughters, a couple flashlights and a jack knife and then, for some unknown reason, threw most of the rest of my stuff all over the inside of the car. Must be some sort of "total conquest" thing. Maybe proving in some way that this sneaky thief is the master of his domain and can do anything he wants. He did leave my phone this time but I know why: I have a basic phone. My phone has buttons and no apps. It's like no all powerful thief would be caught dead with a phone like that.

I "almost" all the time locked my car. I figure that in order for that thief to get into my car on the "almost" day, then he's been there lots more times when it was locked. He's a persistent thief. That means that I must unfailingly lock that car but even more I need to watch outside more often during the night. Maybe get some sort of security camera. That thief needs to be caught, he doesn't belong around my neighborhood. He got a computer from another neighbor a couple weeks ago. We all knew he was sneaking around. The fault is all mine, I knew better than to leave my car unlocked. No huge financial loss but the feeling of being violated is more than before. I hope I've learned my lesson. It cost me some irreplaceable memories this time.

Art Prize: Art? Really?

Being of limited exposure to the art experience, there are times when I experience a bit of confusion when it comes to the precise definition of what is and is not "art". Art Prize is in full swing in Greater Grand Rapids. From huge to miniature, whispy to solid, beautiful to ugly, ridiculous to sublime, tasteful to detestable, attractive to repulsive, art is an elusive idea. Last year a beautiful, tasteful, colorful, non-controversial portrait won first prize. It was magnificent. The art world was up in arms over it. Evidently, a work of art isn't a work of art unless most people of good taste find it repulsive. In that vein, this year there is a professional group of judges thast will determine the winner. That way the prize won't be recieved by an artist who isn't really an artist because they created something beautiful. The judges will make sure that the winner will be someone who challenges good taste to such a point that only the elite and knowledgable will appreciate the value of such a unique item.

I guess true art will always bypass my little world of ignorance and bliss. I just don't have the time to study the value of tasteless, repulsive junk arranged into some meaningful and thought provoking form. This Art Prize event is quite the thing around here. I applaud the promoters for bringing it to area. Hundreds and thousands of folks swarm into the city and see art forms in all sorts of venues. A very special time. It spurs thought and conversation and in some cases I am sure, action of some sort. I do feel somewhat sad however for those folks who's special art is stuck in a far corner of the city, way off the beaten path and few visitors get a chance to see it. Yeah, that's kind of a bummer. But let me tell you, in my personal opinion, as fun and enlightening and thought provoking as all this art is, some of those items, pretending to be art are better off in the bottom of a garbage can or the tank of a porta potty for obvious reasons.

I guess this is what art is all about, discussion. I guess that's good. I have noticed though that when it comes to the discussion of art and how it can be so obviously contraversial and repulsive, if you or I actually state the obvious: Some of it is simply tasteless garbage. We are berated for being ignorant and opressive. Truth be known, I believe that when some of this art is displayed in public, in the name of freedom, in front of anyone, it is actually a type of tyranny and opression to an otherwise sensible society.

Do laws work?

In reading and hearing about certain events lately the thought occurred to me that many laws are only laws for some of us. Depending on who we are and how much influence we have makes a lot of difference in the enforcement and consequences of breaking the law. Not being judgemental or whether their actions are right or wrong I look at certain striking factions. From what I understand, they are conducting illegal strikes. As long as I can remember it has been illegal for school teachers to strike. Right now teachers are carrying on strikes in certain school districts. I haven't read anything regarding prosecution or sanctions resulting from those illegal strikes. The students look to those teachers for instruction of course but as teachers they are also a moral guide towards being an upstanding citizen. After all, we certainly don't want criminals teaching our children do we?

So anyway, I simply don't understand the law when it comes to a huge voting block of professionals with almost unlimited cash resources for lobbying and political influence. A legal strike is an important tool in maintaining a level bargaining position improving the work place through cooperation between those bargaining factions. Necessary and useful. However, because the educational system is funded by tax dollars, and technically teachers are civil servants, it is my u8nderstanding that teacher strikes are against the law. If that is indeed the case, what is keeping the government agency in charge from disciplinary actions? I'm just asking? I think kids should be in school without worrying about whether the teacher is a criminal or not. Being taught by someone who has disdain and disrespect for the laws of this country. Who decides which of us has to be law abiding and which does not? But, maybe that's just me.

Interesting to me stuff

Some things I may find interesting may be simply old news to others. Such is the transference of information isn't it? Some things that you and I may consider common sense can be cause for enlightenment to others. And then there is always the controversial stuff like politics that brings the hair up on the necks of some of us.
The mundane: The Carpel tunnel surgery I just had was a piece of cake. The results are unknown but at least I had it done after 30 years of sleeping hands. Did you ever try to wash only one hand? It is an acquired skill isn't it?
The controversial: A judge (female) explained to a groping victim that she had been in a bar when the offense happened. What did she expect? The offender was convicted and sentenced for the crime but afterward the judge felt the victim needed some educating concerning putting herself in danger. Some people argue with the judges reasoning, others simply see it as common sense.
The truly enlightening: I had the opportunity to send a small, one and a half pound package to a town in England. Not ever having dealt with trans-oceanic shipping before I assumed it would be on the expensive side. Shipping to California for that same package is about $16. Assuming (remember the phrase about assuming) that England was maybe a thousand miles further I figured double the price, on the outside maybe triple the price. Yeah right! $98.90. I call that enlightening.
Downright laughable: A TV news reporter was commenting on the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Asked what the biggest difference was he replied: Well, they don't agree on the way they should spend tax money. I guess we are all guilty of stating the obvious on occasion aren't we?
Life teaching moment: Attended the 50 year class reunion of my high school this weekend. In years past the affairs would last far into the night and early morning hours. We left around 9:30 pm and there were very few people left then. What did I learn? As I we grow older, we have become so efficient at everything, even reunions that we can have hours and hours of fun in a much shorter time. Yup! We've become that good at enjoying ourselves.

Truthfully, this posting was way longer and substantially more profound but for some unknown reason the electronic demons from hell saw to it that much of it was sent to the sun and burned up in a solar flare. Uh, huh, yeah, that's what it was.

Taking care of me

What are you going to do today, simply for yourself? Do you set aside days or parts of days to cater to your personal needs? Some of us don't know how to do that. Some of us so totally immerse ourselves in responsibilities towards business, charities or other people that we forget about what it is that keeps us happy and we wind up being miserable. Well, I am here to tell you that is not the case with me today. As soon as I extract myself from this keyboard I am going for an early morning bicycle ride through the backstreets and trails surrounding where I sit right now. Going back and forth, further and further North is and exciting experience and gratifying accomplishment. I am a casual bicycle rider. I don't set out on any given morning with a certain amount of miles to travel. Wherever my legs carry me is good enough. Today I just want to ride for the sake of riding. Say hi to whomever I meet, stop to search for fish in the creek, pass the early golfers walking the dew covered course, back yard gardeners harvesting, folks sitting on the porch enjoying a fresh coffee. A ride this early is far less crowded, less people or traffic is riding without the stress of fending for my life.

The ride around the lake will proceed on another day. Today I need to just ride. I wonder of any of this means anything to anyone else other than me. But then again, this morning I am taking care of me. Just letting you know. Maybe I'll even have a cookie. Wow! This taking care of me opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Maybe you want to give it a shot. Good Luck!

Biking North a bit more

Not much time this morning, lots of work starting early. A good day at the office.

Yesterday afternoon found me pulling into Frankfort Michigan on my bicycle trip. I'd left Manistee early as the sun rose in the Eastern sky. Surprisingly, I was not the only biker going North. Two people passed as I was unloading and waved a friendly hello without slowing down. One on a traditional bike and one on a recumbent. The weather was cool but not frosty, a welcome change from a few short weeks ago with the temperatures in the 90's and flirting with 100*. Onekema was my original objective but with my early start, good weather and pretty good leg strength I met my support guy and decided to go further. The road was very bicycle friendly with wide side paths, I was put at ease with all that room concerning passing vehicles. I did not pass any other bicycles but was overtaken a dozen times by both single riders and groups as well. No stopping for chit chat though. We were all pretty intent on the ride. Probably because of the healthy sized hills with the magnificent views spread out before us. Taking my time and using all the gears properly I felt encouraged by my slow but sure method of grinding up those hills and the suddenly being rewarded by a smooth glide down the other side with little effort. I did stop for a few pictures before the camera batteries died. I took apart my rear tail light and used those batteries for a few more pictures but they also died and some for the most panoramic scenes went unrecorded. I hope to get a few when I ride up to begin again.

It is difficult to ascertain exactly what type of experience I was expecting on this trip. Whatever it was is definitely not what I am getting. My expectations were based upon my walk around the lake almost 50 years ago. I am a different person, subject to totally different perceptive abilities. The ride is not even close to the walking as far as observation and ability to penetrate the surrounding countryside. Especially the lake shore itself. I am still dealing with that. I am still finding the true experience. Hard to describe. I'm working on that skill too. So far by car, on the roads the miles amount to about 188. By wandering bicycle I passed 231 miles yesterday. For a hardened purist bicycle rider that is just about a two day ride. For me it is monumental. A matter of perspective isn't it?..................Later............Joe