Finished

I sat in the testing center yesterday taking my last exam of the semester. This was my first one back after a long break. It has been really amusing to me how the brain learns differently as I have gotten older.

High school's learning tactics for me were no strategy at all really. I was blessed with a good memory and preparing for tests was no huge challenge. But somewhere in my adult life, I began to pick up tricks of association that helped me remember certain things..that is, when I remembered to apply them.

So I recall smiling several times yesterday as I tackled the 110 multiple choice questions that were my final. One answer specifically involved the mental image of a dog and a potato. Another image was fireworks and a flag, go figure.

I'll admit that I was more than a little apprehensive at the beginning of the semester. Would this old brain be able to keep up? Would this former A student crash and burn when put to a new challenge? I got a really good feeling after finishing this one semester. Working "smarter not harder" is the blessing of experience.

Variable

I sat on my back porch this morning and watched the sun come up. Funny how it could have been a scene from 100 years ago.  No one ever told nature she was behind the times and needed to catch up. This orderly sunrise and crisp routine seems to still work for her.  I watched a cardinal flash streaks of crimson as it raced between the cedars.  Hardly noticed was the female, hidden by her brown coat just a couple of branches away.  Nature has a system in place that accomodates the safety and well-being of even it's smallest partners.  The man who is unaware of this is the obnoxious variable in nature. 

Maybe it is the free will thing.  Man has it, and Nature does not.  So Nature follows the design and Man is not constricted to it.  If Man chooses, he can build his house on the edge of a 900-foot cliff in a remote part of northern California---his choice entirely.  God-given common sense would tell most everyone that this was a fool's paradise.  However, should his house collapse one day on top of him, the odd tremor will get the entire blame.   

Gandhi once said, "Earth provides enough to satisfy man's need, but not everyman's greed."  That ugly counterpart to Man's good nature drives atrocities and the destitution in the world that leaves us shaking our heads in disbelief.  Some of the carnage is produced indirectly by Man's unwillingness to recognize the order of things.  He is the one out of line.  And no one likes a line cutter.  He is the variable to order, but it is his choice entirely.

Order of Things

My pear tree is in full bloom. Just a few weeks removed from the last snowfall, I suppose it felt safe enough to trust an early February prediction by a groundhog named Phil. The Farmer's Almanac gave the all-clear as well. No hint of a pre-Easter freeze anywhere.

I am usually a guy with an aversion to hype. So why am I excited about an early Spring? My pear tree is in it's sixth Spring. I am unsure when it will start producing pears. But the possibility of this year being the year has created a little school-boy glee in my otherwise laid-back demeanor.

Things ordered and set in motion fascinate me. Things ordered give incredible credence to incredible design. That my little pear tree is producing white blooms for the first time in it's short life, makes me think again---this could be the year. And if it is, one more of my theories about nature's order of things will be proven correct.

Supportive...After All



 Well, I was up to my eyeballs in angst earlier today,with the computer issues and all.  Support proved to be outstanding and restored my keyboard companion to full operation.  A joyous celebration here.  At many points during the long ordeal, my mind wandered to a perfect world---free from computer viruses and other such looming maladies.  I entertained the idea of changing operating systems or possibly computers altogether.  After I polled some friends and acquaintences, did a little research and cooled off a bit, I am determined to stick it out with my PC.  After all we have a history. 

I read what a friend of mine said today about life's little dips in the road. She was referring to the changing seasons and their effect on our psyche.   Days like today, with agendas flung out the window and productivity buried beneath mounds of necessity, make you wonder if these days weren't carefully orchestrated.  Brought into full view by a need for balance.  The universe, after all, operates on such a clever system.  The sun comes up, goes down, shifts to the north, wanders to the south.  Each movement has a differing effect on us all.  Morning, night, summer, winter---the ever-evolving, clandestine changes make us human.  They define humanity. 

As I prepare for a new day, I am aware that I do not hold tomorrow.  I can't even say for certainty that it will come.  A leaf is blown, with no power over the wind that blows it.  Neither does it have a hand in it's choice of variety, whether oak, or spruce or elm.  And certainly it has no say in the matter of which day it will fall.  After all, who would sympathize with a simple leaf for being cut loose from the tree?  That's just a part of nature.  But the leaf, small and insignificant as it may be, still plays a part in the wonder of it all.   And whether it remains high in the tree or falls to the ground it has a role to play...and tomorrow is always a new day.

Computer Support



Out with the Windows?



I started a new blog called Out The Window. Before starting, I looked at other blogger's choices and the blog page title options were endless. My title was appropriately chosen to reflect my current world as I view it. It became suddenly and horribly apparent this morning that the title was also the course of action most prevalent in mind as I sat in front of my frozen PC. I wanted to throw something out the window alright.

Five hours later I still sit watching tech support drag my mouse cursor all over the screen and drop hieroglyphical commands in the run prompt. And I say this next part needlessly, I've had plenty of time to think.

Do I need to say, " Out WITH the Windows." For a long time I never knew there were other options. But Mac users look at you like you're from another planet when you even mention Windows. Apparently there aren't as many virus and support issues with a Mac. I really can't say. I haven't done the research. I haven't needed to. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe when tech support DOES fix this, I need to look out the window at other options. 

Mobile

Who knew? I'm a mobile blogger. After setting up my first blog ever, I am now doing it on the fly. Getting ready now for a long weekend. Later.

Unlocked

My wife cracked the code to my iPhone's voice mail.

Then she proceeded to listen to all my voicemails one by one.  I sat there and watched her---powerless to do anything.  I watched her shake her head in disbelief.   Every guy's nightmare.   Luckily, I had nothing to hide.

But she was still a little miffed that I had let my voicemail get so full.  So full, in fact, that no one else could leave a message.  Including her.  She listened to message after message of her saying things like, "Hey babe, it's me…hope you're day is going great," and "Hey babe, I'm heading home…just checking on you."  Two months of missed messages.  Ouch!

We listened to a couple from my mom, a lady at church, a guy in the band saying he would have to miss our weekly gig.  Man, that explains so much!  You miss two months of voicemails from people who expect you to get them and there is a ton of stuff left hanging.  

Well, I am glad that mystery is unlocked…but not sure of the fall-out from here. 

40 something

A friend of mine started a blog today.   I can't say how I totally felt about that.  I was proud that she was using her gift of writing to convey what I know will be inspiring and uplifting.  Part of me was inspired, as well, to wax nostalgic or philisophical on my own.  Part of me felt disgusted by all of the useless banter that already clutters cyberspace.  What more could I contribute with a personal blog that hasn't already been said.  But as you can tell, my writing demon prevailed and so I have launched into the world of blogging.  Enough said about that.

Much of what I have learned over the past forty years (I am now 44), has been collected in morsels.  The wit and wisdom of a guy my age begins to add up.  Things you overhear.  Mistakes you watch happen right in front of your eyes.  The funniest joke you ever heard (at least at the time.)  All of these begin to shape a very rich life.  I feel lucky at least.  All the stories bounce around and get used in your own conversation.  I find myself now telling a story and then musing, "Have I told this person the same story before?" 

So, even if I repeat myself, I will endeavor with this blog to always be real and re-tell the meanderings of a 40-something-year-old guy.  If you're that guy as well, or if you are the wife, daughter, son, girlfriend or brother to that guy, here is my blog that you may understand him a little better.