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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| Looks like everything is set for our Christmas vacation, we will head out tomorrow morning and spend most of the week traveling and visiting. It would have been nice to head out today, but both my wife and I have to work. However, we do get to close up early tonight, and I should be home by six. I can understand the store being open, last minute shoppers and all, I've been there and done that myself. But to have the yard open really doesn't make a lot of sense. Who is going to be picking up lumber and building materials on Christmas Eve? You would think that it would be dead back in the yard today, with everyone spending Christmas Eve with family and friends, but I've heard it's been a bit busy so far. Of course, that's typical anymore. Working evenings, I would anticipate things to be pretty slow at work, but that's not the case at all. It seems to be even busier in the evenings now. I think a lot of the people who come through are just trying to avoid spending time at home with family. Some even comment something on this order. It's as if they need to have something to do; time at home with family is boring. It's a sad situation, indeed. I know it's not true of everyone, but I see a lot of people come through for whom it is true. they cannot understand why a person would want to get things closed up and go home, after all, they are there to avoid having to be at home. Of course, it comes down to the fact that many people just need to have something going on to stimulate them, or they are bored and miserable. I tend to be just the opposite, I love my time at home with my wife, and we can find all sorts of way to spend our time and enjoy it. For that matter, I'm perfectly content and enjoy my time at home alone, as well. It's not a matter of finding something to entertain me, it's a matter of finding enough time alone and with my wife outside of work and things going on. Oh well, maybe I'm the strange one in all of this. After all, I'm the one being a bit comprehensive about all this traveling and visiting. Sure, I know it will be good times and fond memories, I have no doubt. Yet, at the same time, it means a busy schedule and very little time to spend quietly with my wife and alone, and I'm going to miss that. |
| The weekend before Christmas and all through our home, we were getting things ready to travel and roam. Yes, for the first time in about five years we have more than just Christmas day off. Things worked out for us to take the day after Christmas off in conjunction with our regular days off for a nice little winter vacation. Not only a nice change for us, but a nice little winter break and time to do a bit of traveling and visiting. The last few years we did manage to get over to my mother-in-law's house for Christmas day, leaving early that morning and then returning home the following day. This year will be about the same, we will make our four hour drive over Christmas morning, spend the day and night, then travel another four hours to northern Minnesota to visit more family for a day and a night. Then we drive back south to my sister-in-laws, who lives close to my mother-in-law for a few hours before driving over to St. Cloud to visit more family that evening and a bit the following morning before returning home. A lot of driving and kind of a full schedule, but it will be nice to make these long over due visits and spend a little time with family. What makes this trip even more special? We will get to spend time with some grandchildren in foster care that we don't get to see very often. Yes, a very wonderful Christmas gift for us. |
| Wow! Has it been over a week already? It's been a bit busy with work and getting things ready for Christmas, but it's also been enjoyable. The work schedule is still a bit out of wack with people taking time off and having to fill in, but it's finally slowed down a bit at work. We have the Christmas decorations all up, and have since shortly after Thanksgiving, our cards are all mailed and hopefully have already been delivered. Much of the Christmas shopping is finished, except for gift-cards for the other guards, but that will be done soon. Our time off for Christmas has been approved and it's looking like we will have a nice Christmas vacation this year. The only thing that really needs more attention is my time in here, at WdC. Well, that and my writing in general, I really need to get motivated and get some writing done. I do have a couple ideas for some poetry that I have a crude start on, but haven't done anything more than some rough draft notes on the first two verses. I may need Santa to slip on my Christmas stocking and give me a swift kick in the rump to get me moving! Ah, but perhaps that's the problem, waiting for someone or something to motivate me. Yes, I need to give myself that swift boot to the gluteus maximus and get it into gear. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, no matter what your beliefs, may the holiday season bring you joy and peace. |
| Still struggling along with an old laptop and a new Windows update. The display is messed up, many of my preferred settings changed, but the computer is working a bit faster. Since I use my computer for work as well as personal use, it's important for me to have something reliable. I also use it for writing, so it's even more important to have reliability, I would be devastated to lose anything. This site is a nice place to store items as well as just a super-terrific site, and I do use cloud back-up for my writing and work. I really should use it for photographs as well, but haven't gotten to them yet. Backed up or not, they are useless if I cannot rely on this computer, so it's just common sense to upgrade to something newer and more reliable. The problem, as many of you will know, is money. Especially this time of the year, with Christmas right around the corner, and winter utility bills climbing steadily up. Also, we have old vehicles that require a lot of upkeep, and the cold weather brings higher costs there, too. In time, I will get this old laptop replaced, but another question has come up; what operating system should I go with? I've almost always had Windows, except for a short time a long time ago. My first computer was a Mac, used, and already outdated when I got it, yet it served it's purpose well, I liked the operating platform, and it did not have the issues I've had with Windows. Of course, all of my pc's since then have been Windows, and I haven't had much for complaint there, either. The one I have had over and over again, is the constant updates. I start out with a new computer, a new version of Windows, and everything is fine. But, as time passes and more and more updates install, more and more of my system is used up for Windows itself. Also, each update costs a lot of time, restarts, and adjusting to all the changes, only to find in a few years, I should upgrade to the newer version of Windows and start it all over again. I was shopping at Walmart a couple of days ago and as we stood in line, waiting to get checked out, I commented to my wife that the only thing that takes more time than waiting in line in the stores is waiting for Windows to update. I sometimes wonder if this is not a personal joke incorporated into Windows by Bill Gates; please wait while Windows updates, and of course, please wait while Windows restarts. Is there really anything happening, or like I stated, is it just a cruel practical joke. Anyway, the question now is do I want to continue to wait for Windows to do it's thing, over and over, until it's time to install a newer version and find myself without enough memory to run it? Or, should I look into purchasing an Apple computer? I have not kept myself informed on Apple products and I do not know if they also have all these constant updates and newer versions. I do know that everything I have is for the Windows operating system and I'm not sure how many are available with Apple. It will be a while before I can afford to upgrade my laptop so I will have ample time to research my choices. Then, I reckon the deciding factor will be which is more affordable in the long run. Of course, if anyone happens to read through this and has any suggestions, I would be thrilled to hear from you. Thank you in advance, for both your insight and for reading through my blog post. |
| Eight days since my last entry, what can I say? More computer problems. Yes, Windows did it again. I had just gotten things working right when what to my wondering eyes should appear, another Windows Update I fear. Okay, enough with rhyming, It's fun and entertaining, but I have no time to entertain; I need to get ready to leave for work. Anyway, I downloaded and installed the update and now I have the same problems as before. My display is stretched, but this time I cannot roll back to a previous driver, there isn't one on my system to roll back to. I looked online but had no luck, Windows insists this is the best driver for my display. The manufacturer, you say? Yes, I checked there too, but my machine is too old, they don't have a driver compatible with my laptop running Windows 10. I could download the one for version 7, but Windows support says that won't work with version 10. It looks like I'll be writing to Santa and asking for a new laptop. Well, we'll see how that goes. |
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