Happiness is an MP3 player

I've got to tell you, after all these years of searching I have finally found happiness.

It's an MP3 player or an IPOD with your own music downloaded.

I've got 154 songs on mine and climbing by the day. What's so great about it in my viewpoint is that if I choose I never have to listen to a bad song. No bad songs is made even better by the fact that I don't have to listen to any advertisements.

Hard to beat life with earphones blasting some of your favorite music right into the depths of your soul.

This has brought about a new hobby for me as well. Almost daily, I search Youtube or other sites for some new songs that I might want to download.


Life is good with an MP3 player, my friends. Very, very good.

Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee is now one of my new favorite cities in North America. I hadn't ever been there until a few days ago and we are already planning another trip there so we can spend a little more time exploring.
I'm not a huge country music fan, but the city has other things to offer even besides country. The AT & T building is one of the coolest buildings I have seen and the downtown skyline in Nashville is beautiful.
The football stadium that the Tennessee Titans call home is one of the nicer looking stadiums I have seen and even though I am not a huge NFL fan, I wouldn't mind taking in one of their games sometime in the near future.
The pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River is one of the nicest I have seen.

We only got to spend a short time here on our way to Greenville, South Carolina but plan on coming back in the not too distant future.

More later.

Memphis Rendezvous

When we first schemed up this big trip to South Carolina, my mouth quickly became lustful of getting some ribs in Memphis.
We had seen on both the Food Network and the Travel Channel this great restaurant in downtown Memphis with supposedly the best ribs in the world.

Not true at all. Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous was pretty overrated, overpriced and I felt gypped. When we left, we saw BB King's Blue's Cafe and we wished we had tried that instead.

However, Memphis was great and is worthy of a redo. Love to go back and spend some time doing some of the historical sights and walk around downtown and listen to some of the best music in the world in the Blues capital.

But, that will be another trip

Live for Today

As I blog and search for meaning in this life, I tend to find myself asking more questions about God. I've always had a lot of questions about the future and a lot of wonderment on how things will turn out not only for myself but for human kind.

Not that I am some kind of Nostradamus, but sometimes, it's hard for me to live for today when there is so much to do tomorrow. There is so much planning and thinking to get done, making it often hard to live life in the present.




A lot of my blogs are going to be about movies, songs or other things that are important to me on a daily basis and this one is getting to that as well.

The Grassroots were a popular rock and roll band from the late 60s and early 7os and one of my favorite songs of theirs was a hit called "Let's live for today". They weren't a band like Aerosmith or the Stones that were always together, but they went through a lot of different members and changes. But, they were pretty popular from about 1966 to 1975.

This song is kind of corny, but it's pretty obvious what the meaning is. Living for today and not worrying about the consequences or the future.

There's a couple of ways I can go about living for today. One thing that comes to mind is no cares about what happens to me tomorrow and to just do whatever I want. That pretty much goes against everything ingrained in me from who knows what or when.

But, somehow with that philosophy, you know deep down inside that everything is going to be all right so why not live a little.

Another way to think about living for today is that what you do today makes a difference in yours or somebody else's tomorrow. Today matters so much because you either have a chance to do something great or to set yourself up to do something great in the next few days, months or even years.

But, it's not all about me all the time as hard as that is to believe. By helping somebody in need today, I can enable them to get by another day or possibly make a difference later on in somebody else's life.

So, the song may be a little of a teeny bopper gig of yesteryear and may be corny, but I grew up loving this song and still love it to this day. I do like the thought of living for today when that can make a huge difference in the outcome of things. Instead of worrying about tomorrow, I can think about things I can do this day to help lives get better.

I'm not going to stop thinking about God or the future any time soon, but I can stop and take a breath and think about things I can do today and really live for the day. Put enough of those difference making days back to back and you have that future you always wanted.

It''s a good day to die

There's not another human being in the history books that I admire more than Crazy Horse. There are some others that are close, but Crazy Horse is definitely my favorite.
I suppose I'm not the only one that admires him because there is a memorial built to honor him and his people in South Dakota.



He was credited with saying 'it's a good day to die' to motivate his warriors to fight. Seemed to work pretty well for him.





Tašunka Witko was his Lakota name. He was a member of the Oglala band of the Lakotas otherwise known by you white eyes as the Sioux.












Crazy Horse never wanted leadership. It just fell on him and a leader he was, one of the best ever.


He was a bit of a mystic and he never lost a battle. Against other native American peoples or against the great US Calvary he went undefeated which is quite an accomplishment.
He only lived to be about 30 to 35 years old, depending on who you talk to, and there is controversy over who killed him. Some say it was a US soldier, others say it was one of his own people. Either way, he was stabbed in the back while in captivity.

As I wrote in another blog, I have always been obsessed with the Vietnam War and I always believed I would have gone. One thing I do know about war is that you never how you will react to battle until you are actually in one. Bullets start flying and you pretty quickly know just how brave you really are.

Audie Murphy was one of the bravest soldiers of all time. Highly decorated in WWII and one of the more decorated soldiers of all time. He was rejected by the Marines and the paratroopers because he was too slight of build. In his prime, he stood all of five foot five.
But, like Crazy Horse, he displayed bravery that was rare in a man.
They say we are all afraid and that the only difference between a brave man and a coward is how they react to that fear.

What I don't know and may never know about myself is how I would react when the bullets start flying. Guess I will never know whether I am a warrior like a Crazy Horse or an Audie Murphy.
All I do know for sure is that Crazy Horse was a hero and in spite of what he said to excite his people to fight, today is not a good day to die.

Man on Fire

Do you think God can forgive us for what we've done?

How hard core is that? Must have been one bad hombre to ask twice in the same movie if God can forgive him for what he's done.

Denzel Washington is one of the better actors out there. A guy like that can pick and choose his roles and I believe he has done well with his movie selections. I can't think of many bad movies he's been in.
Man on fire is pretty incredible to me. Sure, it's pretty violent and you don't see a lot of films where the good guy sticks a bomb up the butt of one of the bad guys but this one has a scene like that.
Lots of bad guys met their end in this flick.

The main character played by Denzel had turned to booze to help himself deal with the pain he felt in his heart for doing so many deeds that he even questioned whether God could forgive him. He was hired by a very shady father to be a bodyguard for his little girl.
The best thing about this movie, to me, is the relationship he developed with the little girl he was there to protect.

The little girl loved him almost instantly and he was not so open to that, but she won him over and changed his life.

That part of this movie reminds me of my own life. Even though I have never killed anybody or committed the deeds that the character in this movie had done I have been a bad one in my own right, but I am not going to talk about that.
Like the movie character, I was changed by little girls, my own little girls.

This movie does not have a traditional happy ending but it does end well in the lessons that it teaches.
Caring for another person whether that person is lovable or not can often change their lives.

I blogged about changing the world a few days ago and was told by one of those little girls that I had indeed changed the world because I had changed her life.
If we can help one person on their way we can change the world a little at a time and make this planet a better place to live.

And, that is my goal, to make this world a better place for being here than it would have been if I had never been born.

If that happens, then maybe God can forgive a hard case like me for the things that I have done, just as I am sure he could forgive the guy in this movie.

Kiko and the Cali Girl

Today was the California Girl's birthday and we had a few plans in the works mostly wrapped around the best restaraunt in the area.

All our plans were changed early this morning when I got a phone call from a guy saying he thought he had found our cat, Kiko. Cali Girl made up some flyers when he turned up missing on November 17th and we posted them all over the neighborhood.

I actually didn't have that great a feeling about the call. There are a lot of loose cats running around and a lot of them look pretty much alike. I had already received several false alarms and thought this might be another.
I called the Cali Girl and told her about the call. She said to call if it was him.

It was him and I didn't call. I just showed up and surprised her.

I'm telling you that the Cali Girl has had a few birthdays. But, this one had to be the best ever.

Cali loves her some cats and Kiko is an outstanding one.

Poor little fella probably has had a rough time of it because he's been sleeping since he got back pretty much.

Almost lost in all of this is another important life lesson.

I had been driving around looking for him since he turned up missing. I walked the neighborhoods, checked the pound, helped Cali with the flyers and everything else I could think of.
But, recently, I had given up.


Never give up.

No matter how hard life turns or what your obstacles are and no matter what kind of suckage life becomes, never give up.

Welcome back Kiko and thanks for another lesson.

You never get too old to learn.

Ten Years After

Ten Years After is kind of a forgotten band from the late 60s. What a sad thought, to exist but not have anyone remember you.

I've heard, not sure if it's true or not, that their name came from the band being formed ten years after Elvis Presley became famous.

Like most everyone else, I've apparently forgotten most of their music except for one song.



I'd Love to Change the World.





The chorus of the song goes:



I'd love to change the world

But I don't know what to do

So I'll leave it up to you



Nothing sums up how I am feeling about the world today than this chorus. I'd love to make changes in the world but I have no idea what to do or possibly what I actually can do. So, I do nothing.

I'm leaving world changing up to you.



I thought I could buy a difference, but that didn't work out so well.



The song is great in itself and so 60ish, but the words 'I'd love to change the world' haunt me.



Some day, I will stand before God and will I have made any kind of difference in this world I live in?

Not enough of a difference, if any, and that hurts deep down inside.

Big Jake and the California Girl

Every man from my generation that thinks of himself as a tough guy, as I obviously do, liked John Wayne. He was an icon.
My favorite John Wayne flick was Big Jake by a long shot. To me, Big Jake is John Wayne at his finest and the movie has a lot of memorable lines.

I'm not going to go into many details about the movie but when times got hard people called for the character played by the Duke. When his name was brought up one of the movie's characters asked "you mean himself?"
Being called Himself is pretty telling on how huge of a person you are, larger than life.

How does this relate to the California Girl?

She hates Westerns. She didn't like the Duke. She would never watch Big Jake.

But to me, like big Jake, she is larger than life. We use the names himself and herself around the house and I don't come out and call her Herself. But, it goes without saying that she is Herself.
She's one of a kind and in a class by herself.
One guy I work with calls her the colonel and I am fine with that, but she should have a higher ranking than that. Probably Herself should be a general.

Either way, she is my everything.

Tomorrow, December 12th, is her birthday and I am hoping she has the greatest birthday ever. It's probably not going to happen since her babies are spread out all over the world and it's been a hard season for Herself.

But, just as winter turns to spring, her season will change and things will get better.

To me, Herself is larger than life.

Happy birthday, Herself.

Stuck in Lodi again.

Without a doubt, Creedence Clearwater Revival is my favorite band of all time. No doubt at all about that and it's probably not really all that close.

Lodi, according to what I heard John Fogerty say, is based on a true happening in his early career. A struggling musician is stuck in a small town and out of money and not much hope. In reality, Fogerty and CCR, got out of Lodi and made it big. Actually, they made it huge and had many hits. Fogerty himself had a few hits on his own later, but many consider them the greatest band of their day.
Fogerty says in the song that he is out of songs to play.




Right now, I am stuck in my own little Lodi. Only mine is called Abilene.
I am stuck, out of money, and I don't even own my truck.
But, like Fogerty, if anyone thinks I am really out of songs then they are sadly mistaken. Fogerty went from Lodi to greatness. Wonder if that is possible for me?



An event has happened recently that I have just been made aware of and I will seriously think about whether to write here or not in the future.

Mean People Suck and I'm going to rant

I didn't make up the line 'mean people suck' but I wish I had because they really do suck.

If you hate another person just because they have a different color of skin, then you suck. If you hate somebody just because that other person is of a different social standing than you, then you suck. On the other hand, if you hate a person just because they have more than you do, then you suck, too.


The California Girl and I not too long ago got back from watching Australia. Sometimes I get into my own little world and I forget what life can be like for others. Maybe things have changed a lot since people were treated so harshly, but I am sure some of it exists to this day.
This movie was very good, but a very grim reminder of just how mean people can be. The little boy star in this movie was half white and half aboriginal (I think that is the right word).
He never really felt a part of either race. Things worked out for the boy, but I have to wonder why people can be so mean to others at times.


I grew up in a town that was mostly Hispanic and the few white boys in my school pretty much hung out together and we didn't mix much. I remember one Hispanic kid that I was friends with early on.
I went to his house a couple of times and his mom made home made fresh tortillas. I didn't go there much and I don't remember this kid being around later on, but he was one of the first kids of a different race that I was friendly with.
We coexisted pretty well together in Weslaco, Texas but I do remember a few fights. Every time a fight broke out between a kid of the same race it was one on one. Any time a fight broke out between white kids and Hispanics it became a race war, unfortunately. There were no black kids in my class and my first experience with blacks didn't take place until I moved in the 8th grade. My first experiences with blacks did not go so well and I was picked on pretty frequently. Hey, I was one of the smallest kids in school.

Later on, in high school, I get really big and was left alone. At that point, I never wanted revenge for past treatment, I merely wanted to get along.

I never really understood any of it and I basically just wanted friends regardless of skin color.


Mean people suck.

That will never change.

Block Island

I had never heard of Block Island before 2006, but after visiting it is now one of my favorite places.

There is not a lot to do there for young people, but I think that's part of what I like. It's not as touristy as nearby Martha's Vineyard. It has more of a homey feel to it.

Oh yeah, it gets plenty of tourists. There are B and B's everywhere and lots of businesses that cater to the tourists.

One such business is moped rentals. The California Girl and I had never ridden a moped before and this was pretty funny.

We had to practice in the rental place a few minutes before we were allowed to drive around town. A moped is the perfect way to see the entire island pretty quickly and unfortunately, the natives are a little resentful to the moped riders.

I can certainly understand why.

I took to them pretty much instantly after I got used to it, but had to wait on the Cali Girl to learn to appreciate driving fast. I was way out in front when we passed a young teenage boy that reminded us of our son, Tyler, and his friends. He had the long hair and the clothes of that age group and the skateboarder look going.

When he saw the Cali Girl, he yelled at her "you have to go faster, lady".

We both laughed for a long time over that and still laugh about it to this day.

The ferry ride over to Block Island with 10 foot waves was an adventure in itself and we both survived.

Block Island is green and beautiful. It's not very large and can be seen pretty quickly, but I'd love to go back and see it all again.

If you are ever in Rhode Island, I highly recommend Block Island. We didn't make Nantucket, but I preferred Block Island to Martha's Vineyard.

The Keith Syndrome

Keith came into my life right after my Pappy died. I liked him instantly.
We hit it off like two peas in a pod and like we had known each other our entire lives. The guy worked for me and could fix anything and taught me a lot about repairs.
He was funny. He was entertaining and easy to talk to.
We loved a lot of the same things. We were two grown men that loved to mix it up and rastle around the house.

Only thing is, he had a hard time with telling the truth. It would be hard now to remember every celebrity that he knew or every tall tale. It would be hard to remember all that he had done or places he had been. He was business partners with basketball player Karl Malone. They had a ski resort together.
He was great friends with country singer Neal McCoy. His family owned everything in East Texas and they were loaded. So he said.
That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Secretly, I kind of hoped everything he said was true. However, what little brains I do have knew that nothing he said was true.

My last conversation with Keith was about jet skiing and how they owned several of them and would take us out on the lake. Needless to say, that never happened.

Keith was just one such individual that I knew like that.

Alex was pretty much the same way. Once, I called him and he had call waiting and he told me he was on the other line with Mel Gibson. Yeah, I am sure he would cut off Mel Gibson to take my call.
Maybe I should have been honored by that. Or, by the other 500 hundred lies he told me.

Then, there's Gaylon. He can shoot sub 70 in golf on any given Sunday afternoon. Problem is, people that have played with him say they haven't seen it. That he hits the ball into the woods and makes as many blunders as most golfers.
Takes quite a golfer to break 70 and he ought to be a pro if it were true. Please tell me why he's a maintenance man.

Everything you have done, they have done one better. Everything you are going to do, they have already done.
Doesn't matter how great or grandeur your accomplishments were, they were always better and have beaten you before you even start.

I'm sure we all know people like these.

Sad thing is, they would have been liked by me for just being who they were. There was absolutely no need for stretching the truth for impressing me. When all was said and done, I was actually unimpressed by the constant need for lies.
I just need an honest friend who can be his or her self.

Baileys by the Sea

If you look closely enough at the picture above, you can see just between the water and the clouds part of Martha's Vineyard.
This was the view from the porch of the bed and breakfast in Falmouth, Massachusetts called Bailey's by the Sea.

I normally like to stay at cheap accommodations, while the California Girl likes a good B and B. I am not really opposed to a B and B because the breakfast is usually outstanding.

Bailey's by the Sea is my favorite B and B so far.

Great views, great food, great owners and dog lovers to boot. The woman that runs the place is the only B and B owner that has ever hugged us when we left and I wish we had kept in touch.

I can't think of many places that would be better to sit and write on your laptop than the front, glassed in porch of this fantastic place. Watching boats pass by during the day and the moon's reflection off the sea at night is awe-inspiring to say the least. Of course, you'd have to have a glass of the complementary Bailey's Irish Creme in your hand.

If you get tired of relaxing on the front porch, you can take a short stroll to the British Beer Company which is a fine restaurant and bar.

If you're ever in the southern part of Cape Cod, you might pay a visit to Bailey's by the Sea. It'd be worth your time.

Facebook

Seriously, I have no idea why I signed up for Facebook. I don't spend a lot of time there either, but I get emails whenever somebody contacts me from there.

I'm not into collecting friends on Facebook, but I have searched for a few people I used to know. I'm not having a lot of success looking for really old friends, but a little more with younger people.

Don't let it get out, but I am actually enjoying Facebook. I've hooked up with a few guys that lived in my town but once they graduated from college they moved back North where they came from.

It has been exciting getting to know these guys again and catching up with what's happened in their lives.

I'm looking forward to more good times on Facebook.

I just won 1.5 million dollars

I suppose the authors of the 10 emails wanting to send me money that I receive daily think I look like this guy pictured above.

I realize that I am a dreamer and believe good things can happen to people but these emails are ridiculous.

Either I have inherited 7 million dollars, or I have won the lottery, or somebody wants to bring 20 million into our country and needs my help. Of course, I would be richly awarded for my efforts.

I'm not really sure how these scams work, but I will admit that when I get tired of the constant barrage of emails I like to get even a bit. Normally, I just delete the emails but sometimes.....

Occasionally, I like to reply to them and play along a little.

Some of them can be a good time actually and they think they have a sucker on the line.

One of them wanted to send me a check for several hundred thousand dollars. I am reasonably sure how that scam works is to get your bank account and rob you of all your money.

I replied that he could bring me cash and to meet me at the Wal Mart in a certain city. He replied back that he would send me a check and I responded again that I wanted cash and I would be easily recognized because I would be the rather large fellow that would be surrounded by my Samoan bodyguards.

No more responses from this crook.

Basically, I just want the emails to stop and to be left alone.

I'm not really sure what a blog is supposed to be about. I assume it's whatever a person wants it to be.

If this is my blog and it's about me, then replying to crooks with smart ass replies is part of my life.

I get probably 50 to 100 junk emails a day and the very least I can do is have a little fun with a dirt bag crook.

Ok, ok, I know I need to stop and I need help.

My brother Roger

I was just informed that this is the one year anniversary of my brother's passing. I did not remember because that time is just a blur to me right now.

My heart goes out to Gayla, Justin and Clay at this moment in time. It'll get easier with time as all painful things do, but that doesn't change the fact that we all miss him.

I don't want to be gloomy tonight so I am going to think about some of my favorite Roger memories.

First thing I thought of was a little incident at Garner State Park.
Our family was camping out at Garner with our relatives, the Wheelocks. Roger, our oldest brother, David, and myself rented a paddle boat.
Keep in mind that David was 4 years older than I was. Roger grew early and was huge even as a youngster. I, on the other hand, was a little runt.
Garner State Park is beautiful and the area where you get to paddle your boat was usually peaceful. Not on this day, as we were soon attacked by other boaters. A group of boys from Houston, not unusual for representatives from that lovely city, started ramming our boat to start trouble with us. There were a lot more of them than there were of us and we kind of wanted to be left alone.
Roger never was one to hold anything back and soon yelled at them. One of them then left his boat and jumped on ours. Roger promptly threw him in the water.
I was extremely proud of him for that. Like I said, I was a runt, and way smaller than any of the other boys who were themselves actually older than David.
One thing led to another and soon David and the guy that Roger tossed were soon on the shore acting like they were fighting. Luckily, neither could fight and all of this episode was done after an adult broke them up.
We saw no more from those rascals the rest of our time there.

Another memory that comes to mind was our last golf game together. It was actually our first and last golf game.
Roger, Justin, Clay and myself all loaded up and headed to Lockhart State Park for a challenging round of golf. I was a brand new player and boy was this day comical.
Justin, actually being good at golf, smoked the rest of us. Roger, Clay and I finished in a 3 way tie for last.
It was hotter than fire, but we had a blast. Lots of laughs. Maybe a few four letter words thrown in for sure, but I'm not one to let one of those slip. :)

Mo Ranch was a hoot, that is up until the time we all got salmonella. Mo Ranch is a camp located outside of Hunt, Texas in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. We were there to scout out a location for a possible 50th wedding anniversary for our parents.
The Guadalupe River flows right through Mo Ranch and it is crystal clear and pretty cold there because the camp is pretty close to it's headwaters.
There is a slide that goes out into the river and you sit on a little board that floats out a bit into the river before you eventually sink. The faster you are, generally the further you go out into the water before you sink.
Roger, being somewhat heavy, was going faster and getting further out into the river than anyone else.
He had more fun than any of the 10 year olds riding the slides and it was so much fun watching him that day
Salmonella gave that trip a black eye, but we really had a great time before we all got sick.

Bowling? Once, Roger's family less Justin, and part of my family met in Comfort, Texas. We all went to an old school bowling alley where people still set the pins.
Needless to say, we had a great time.
Later that same trip, the boys which included Roger, Clay, Tyler and myself went up to Enchanted Rock. Clay and Tyler ran all the way to the top. We poor older fellas walked up huffing and puffing the entire way.
Great times.

A lot of my favorite memories of Roger too place during our adult years.
Sharing a room with him for 15 or 16 years had it's share of memories. Some of them too embarrasing to write.
I have already thought of several more memories but this thing could go on for pages. I think I might make it a regular feature on my blog.


I owe my brother many things and writing about him is the least I can do. But, the one thing I am most grateful for is marrying Gayla.
Gayla is good people and one of my favorites on the planet. Roger's union with Gayla brought about a couple of my other favorites, Justin and Clay.
I cannot be thankful enough for those boys. They are the salt of the earth.

Here's hoping that Gayla, Justin, Clay and the rest know that we love them and especially on this day.

It was the best of times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Many of us had to read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens back in school. For me, the opening line was the highlight of the book and it went down sharply from there. But, that's just me. I'm sure many loved reading this book in high school English class.

California Girl and I went to Manhatten in 2004. Truth be known, it was all her idea and she took me kicking and screaming.

As soon as I got off the plane and got in a New York City cab, I was in love. Yes sir, New York was my kind of town. I had more fun in Manhatten than just about anywhere else I have been except maybe the mountains. I wanted to explore as much of it as possible. I wanted to eat as much of the food as possible. I wanted to live there.

It was an incredible eye opening experience for me.

But, there was one small problem. I would never be happy in the town I was living in again. I had to be big time and conquer new worlds.

It nearly killed me.

But, it was the best of times and I refuse to accept the worst of times anymore. I got to see one of the greatest cities in the world and then I got to move to another pretty nice place at least for a while.

My setbacks are temporary and I am determined to get through all of this with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

So, TAKE THAT BAD GUYS!!!!!!!!!!