Throughout life we all do a wide range of things for a variety of reasons.  Some of the common reasons are:  I had to, I needed to, I wanted to or maybe it just seemed like the thing to do at the time.  My experience with the last one is usually not good.  Interpreted it means “God I should have been smarter than that.”

The past year or so the only reason I have done anything is because I needed to. I’m not really talking about things like laundry, housecleaning, and flowerbeds, those will forever be “have to” or “need to” things.  My contact with the outside world has been limited and has only happened because I knew I needed to do some of those things.  Thanks to some very good friends and family members for initiating most of those events.  They have been enjoyable even if I did them because I needed to not because I wanted to.

Recently I have had the opportunity to spend time with some old friends and some new friends.  I initiated the contact and I did it because I wanted to, not because I needed to.  I enjoyed the time immensely; I hope my friends enjoyed my company. I didn’t really give it any thought at the time but later it occurred to me that I did those things because I wanted to.  I guess it is just part of the “getting better” process, I just hope it continues.

I know there will be bad days in the future but they are easier to deal with because the light at the end of the tunnel gets just a little brighter each day.

It has been about ten days since I’ve been here.  I still haven’t made that little run I talked about last time.  It is still on the agenda, life kind of got in the way; I’ll probably do it in the next couple weeks or so.

In addition to spending the quality time with friends, I have been in a real battle with my allergies.  I’m still not sure who is winning.  I didn’t have many allergy problems the last four years because I spent most of that time inside away from the elements; I think as I spend more time outside my resistance to those bad things will increase.

You know I have a computer habit; this blog is a bi-product of that habit.  The last anniversary/birthday/Fathers day gift Sharyl gave me (actually she forced me to go buy it) was an IPAD.  I tried to convince her I didn’t need it, I finally bought it just to make her happy.  I absolutely love the thing.  I had used it for a few months and had it set up like I wanted it.  I decided to Sync it with a computer just for backup and I read somewhere you should do that from time to time.  I tried to use one of my laptops.  It didn’t work; I lost everything I had on the IPAD.  It took a little while but I got it back like I wanted it.

After that experience I was reluctant to have the IPAD and that laptop in the same room. Until this week the IPAD was never connected to another computer.  I wanted to run some newer stuff. In order to do so I had to upgrade the operating system.  I had to connect it to a computer to do that upgrade.  I was as nervous as I was the first time I typed a C:\ on an old DOS computer.  It took me about four times as long as it should have but I now have the new system and I didn’t lose anything.

For you WordPress bloggers that read my stuff, if you haven’t tried it and you have an IPAD or IPhone, I think you will like the WordPress app, it makes managing your blog on the portable pretty easy. A word of caution; you may need to upgrade your operating system.

I quit smoking thirty years ago this month.  It was one of the hardest things I have done; I still remember details of the process. For the past three months I have been trying to quit taking the newspaper.  I think this is going to be more difficult than giving up the smokes.

I am kind of impulsive and never know when I will be gone for a few days. A pile of newspapers in the yard is an open invitation for the bad guys to come get some of this guy’s stuff.  I allowed my subscriptions to expire in December then I spent the next few weeks on the phone assuring the circulation department that I didn’t want the paper at any price; it wasn’t a money issue, I didn’t want them to throw a paper in my yard.  Problem solved; wrong.  Last week I got a letter from them. I opened it to see if I owed them money; it said something about complimentary papers.  I pitched it in the trash and forgot about it, until Sunday.  There in my drive was the Sunday Oklahoman and on Monday the Daily Oklahoman.  I called Monday and was assured delivery would stop.  I felt good (kind of like that last cigarette) Tuesday, no paper.  Apparently the Wednesday guy didn’t get the word, they assured me again today that delivery would stop.  I can’t wait to see the Thursday headlines.

Just a little look at what makes the old man’s world spin.

Easter is rapidly approaching, if I don’t make it back before the holiday, I hope you find a basket full of eggs and please remember the real reason we celebrate.

Thanks for riding along.  Please say a prayer for me.

Good Night and God Bless.

Dave