On Just About Everything
I have to say that Disney World does it right. They go out of their way to insure that everyone has a good time. One of those unique experiences was the McCaws at Animal Kingdom. A dozen birds seem to land on command so these smiling young ladies can tell us about them and of course so we can take pictures. Then a few minutes later they all take flight only to return a few hours later for more guests. Continue reading Blue McCaws
There is a big portion of our population who are just risk averse. They shutter at the very idea of risk or almost any other change for that matter. Risk to them is to be avoided at all costs. Most of these risk averse people are conservative in nature and politics. When I was in the corporate world I worked for such a company. They stated “We want you to take risks but just don’t ever fail!” I could never understand how they could not see the absurdity of that statement? Trying something new is basically going against the grain … Continue reading Risk Taking…
It seems I have been hearing a lot of background talk about the cable news anchors. Many seem to be troubled by all the young females who are now figureheads in that media. I don’t have a poll to prove it but I hear most of these comments coming from women. They just seem to be the most disgusted. Maybe its because too many guys just like watching the eye-candy instead of trying to listen to a knowledgeable source. I personally have never been that very impressed with any of the talking heads of news, even the network variety. The … Continue reading The Most Important People in Cable News…
My name is RJ I am an independent-thinking, pretty creative guy who is deaf and has had some unique views and challenges in life. They say that adversity builds character; if that’s true, I must have a lot of character! I am passionate about many things in my life. Writing, sharing my life’s experiences, and particularly blogging are included on the list. I blog about what gets me up in the morning and what excites me. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences, and that is what I am about here at … Continue reading About Me…
I know that robots have taken over many of the repetitive tasks from us humans. Many see that as stripping jobs away from those who don’t care to otherwise be ready for today’s workforce. The mind-numbing jobs are being taken over my mindless robots and that is as it should be. Let’s take auto manufacturing as an example: Robots don’t make mistakes… They do the same thing over and over again because that is all they are programmed to do. Robots don’t know Monday from Friday…. They don’t take their eye off the task at hand because they are still … Continue reading When Robots Make Cars….
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He created the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and the beasts of the land. And then he created man, and it was down hill from there on out…. Forgive me that this is not an exact quote from any bible but for the purpose of this post you get the idea where I am going. The very first family that God made ended up with a murderer. One brother killing another. That wasn’t a very good start to humanity. It seems that the seven deadly … Continue reading In The Beginning…. And Then…
I guess you could say that folk music is an acquired taste and it seems to have fallen out of favor these days. In my earlier hearing years I almost lived and breathed folk music. One of the original founders of that music genre was Woody Guthrie and one of my favorite museums is the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa OK. The museum is small but packed with the archive of all his music. His most famous song “This Land Is Your Land” should be our national anthem. It relates more to the character of America than a naval … Continue reading I’m Dreaming About … Folk Music
I took the picture above in 1977 when I hiked there with my best buddy. I don’t remember the name of the mountain but it is located in southwestern Colorado. The mountain top lake shown here was at 12,000 feet so the breathing was hard even for the 31 year-old that I was. You could say the view was literally breathtaking! This pic remains in the 5 star category in my Lightroom library. We camped there for three days before heading back down. Continue reading I’m Dreaming about … Mountain Hiking…
My wife seems to constantly have one “food” show or another on her TV during the day. I don’t sit down and watch any of them but I am exposed to them as I move from one room to another. It is amazing to me how much money is spent concentrated on food, especially food that is not really good for us. The last couple of years seem to be the “year of the cupcake” on cable TV. There were so many shows about making them, eating them, and competitions of how to display them, it was insane to me. … Continue reading Eating To Live vs Living to Eat…
This picture of the World Trade Center was taken lying on my back looking up at that the steel and glass buildings. We later had dinner at the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of tower 1 that evening. It was the last time I visited there… Continue reading WTC 1999
Its hard starting a new blog, if you are not primarily in it for yourself you are in for some serious disappointment as far as early views are concerned. They just don’t happen as we hope. You have to realize that you are competing with millions of others who are doing the same thing as you are and everyone of us is dreaming of thousands of views a day to somehow validate our time spent writing posts. I especially feel sorry for those bloggers out there that are trying to make money off their words. You are almost guaranteed failure. … Continue reading Its Hard Starting a New Blog…
This picture was taken on a Saturday morning in 1972. It has a special memory as that is when I first decided I wanted to use a camera for art. The building in the background was called the Pyramids and was located on the north side of Indianapolis. I was a young man of twenty-six when I took this shot. I have taken thousands of photographs since them but this one continues to be on of my favorites. Continue reading In Search of – Special Memories
I’m dreaming of all the friends I made in my business trips to Guadalajara Mexico. Especially those who helped me celebrate life at the Guadalajara Grill. Continue reading I’m Dreaming of My Friends at GDL
Spring is my absolutely favorite season of the year. It is a time when the earth comes to life once again. I thank the Lord for that happening each year and letting me enjoy another occurrence. Winters are a hard time for me. That is the time when my depression hits its lowest level. The constant grey sky and lack of sun drains me. I seem to live in a constant darkness during winter months. Spring is my favorite season. As the years have gone by, we have been in our current homestead for sixteen years now, I find that … Continue reading Spring Has Sprung….
I find inspiration in some very unusual places. This one came from a recent issue of a General Motors magazine called New Roads. For the most part it is a giant advertising document for their products but smattered within these ads are some sometimes interesting articles. As shown in the pic to the right this one is about Millennials. I must admit that I am for the most part out of the mainstream of life. My world is more or less how I want to make it. It seems that being an empath I migrate toward the lower echelons of … Continue reading You Just Can’t Keep Them Down On The Farm…
I enjoy my morning toast and so does my squirrel friend it seems…. Continue reading My Morning Toast…
We all think we know what propaganda is but until I saw the show on PBS entitled “The Brain with Brian Eagleman” did I understand just how invasive it is. Propaganda allows us to do very dark things that we never imagined possible. Here is a quote from the episode “Why Do I Need You”. But there is a darker side. For every “in group” there is an “out group”. Dr. Eagleman’s labs has show that belonging to an “in group” means that at an unconscious level our brains care less about members of the “out group. He journeys to … Continue reading Propaganda…
I can’t believe that we were on our honeymoon thirty years ago. We were both over forty and said by the time we reach our thirtieth anniversary we won’t even realize it as we will both be senile. Our 3oth will be here in a few weeks, we have less hair and more wrinkles and pounds but we remember it as if it were yesterday… :) Continue reading I’m Dreaming About… Our Honeymoon
Colonial Williamsburg is one of my favorite places to visit. I have been there on four separate occasions. If you want to get a hands-on view of early American history this is the place to get it. This picture was taken during my 1988 visit. I wonder what kind of men those boys grew up to be? Continue reading Colonial Williamsburg…
I took this picture about 30 years ago from the top of the Haleakalā Volcano in Maui Hawaii while on my honeymoon. It is the epitome of beauty to me. Almost surreal… I was a naive kid of 40 back then. It is amazing how much I have learned and continue to learn since… :) Continue reading Haleakalā Volcano
My friend over at the blog CountingDucks gave me a mini-epiphany today with his latest post. When describing his grandparents he could have just as well described my wife and I. On occasion I wear my tee-shirt with the following words on it just to bug my wife. “If a man says something and no women are around, is he still wrong!” Even after ten years it still raises a comment or two. I have to say up front here that I had very early life experience with the opposite sex. I didn’t really get into any serious relationship until … Continue reading The Mystery of Women…
From my friends at the Will Rogers Institute. It is a down right mystery this year. :) Continue reading No Accountiang For Taste…
Here I am about four weeks away from my visit to Disney World. Being on my bucket list I have high expectations for this visit. Our Magic Bands came in the mail today. These are wristwatch like rf identifiers we will use for everything from getting into our hotel rooms and the parks to charging everything we buy there. It couldn’t be easier. As usual they are of a very high quality. So far I have found that the folks of DW treat their customers exceptionally well. I know I am only one of the 50,000 or so people who … Continue reading Disney World Crowds..
Being that I will soon be in Disney World so for whatever reason Jiminy Cricket popped up in my mind. For those of you who are younger than 60 or so maybe you need a refresher on who I am talking about. Jiminy Cricket was a inspirational character in the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio. Some say that was the epitome of animated films. It was about a puppet who wanted to be a real boy. I think I was maybe five or six when I saw it. I had seen cartoons before in the theaters but since we didn’t … Continue reading When You Wish Upon A Star…
When I was in the corporate world for thirty years I frequently traveled by air. The first trips in 1970 were pleasant. The business traveler was king of the sky. But as the years progressed flying become more and more burdensome. My last business trip by air in 2000 was a pain-in-the… In the fifteen years hence I have made very few trips to airports. Instead I now take road trips. Yeah, road trips might take a little longer, although with all the security stuff sometimes not. But if you really want to see just how wonderful and diverse this … Continue reading I’m Dreaming about Road Trips
Getting old it not for sissies! This is a saying that all of us over 60 know well. You might say 70 or even 80 but eventually it becomes a reality for all of us. I often say that after I turned 60 my warranty expired as that is when physical things started to go wrong. But that is not the topic for this post. Instead it is about the Joys of life and how they become more intense as we age. That might be a surprising statement to some but after I explain I suspect you will be … Continue reading As I Get Older…
I have always had pets in my life but I didn’t know a uber animal lover until I met my wife. Simply stated she would likely wrap her car around a tree rather than hit a chipmunk crossing the road. We have had a large variety of pets over the years, mostly indoor ones but also a myriad of outdoor critters. I haven’t counted but I pretty sure my wife has more pictures of her pets than she does of me. :) I thought it is about time to show you a small sampling of some of these “loved ones”. … Continue reading Critters…
Ewe, Me, and the Apple Tree The minute I saw this framed picture in the shop I knew I had to have it. Its play on words and simplicity simply spoke to me. :) Continue reading EWE, Me, and the Apple Tree
What happened, however, wasn’t an abandonment of my faith, but a shift in my understanding of Scripture. While I had always read the Bible and knew large portions of it by memory, I had relied on the expertise of my religious mentors (some of whom were simply laypeople teaching Sunday School or Christian education classes) to help guide me through its interpretation. The more I read the text through unfiltered eyes and the more I learned about scholarly investigation, the less sense their point of view made. Their old Jesus looked nothing like my new Jesus. I could no longer … Continue reading How Studying Religion Made Me a Liberal
One of my hobbies (yeah I have many) is to take photos of group pictures from past generations I find in my travels and elsewhere. This one is from the Indiana Historical Society publication. The right side middle picture was taken in 1916. I enjoy zooming in on these type pictures and trying to imagine what one person’s life in that group was like. Getting the details for this has only been possible in the digital world for a few years now. it was not until picture capacity size exceeded 10 megabytes or so that minute details could be seen. … Continue reading Pictures of the Past..
We all have heroes that we admire in life. They have done some extraordinary things to merit our attention. One of my heroes is Thomas Jefferson. The words he penned during his life had a very distinct effect on how our country was formed. One of those things was his “abomination” for slavery. He knew it was a major flaw in his world. BUT… While Jefferson was appalled by slavery it did not reflect into actions. As the sign found in Monticello says he had 110 slaves on his estate and only freed two in his lifetime. He just didn’t … Continue reading About Our Heroes…
I have always had pets in my life but I didn’t know an extreme animal lover until I met my wife. Simply stated she would likely wrap her car around a tree rather than hit a chipmunk crossing the road. We have had a large variety of pets over the years, mostly indoor ones but also a myriad of outdoor critters. I haven’t counted but I pretty sure my wife has more pictures of her pets than she does of me. :) I thought it is about time to show you a small sampling of some of these “loved ones”. … Continue reading I Am Dreaming Of Critters
Oh the Good Ole Days…… Some are saying that W’s appearance at Jeb’s rally in South Carolina was the reason for his dismal showing there. I guess I am not the only one with Bush fatigue… We need to turn the page, however ugly it might get… Continue reading An Ounce of Truth
I have been a DirecTV customer for fifteen years now and have seen a lot of change, some of it even improvements, over the years. I am one of their loyal customers primarily because they have no competition in my neighborhood. One of the new things they implemented in the latest update is if you have multiple episodes of a particular TV show recorded and you finish watching one they will automatically turn on the next episode if you don’t tell them otherwise within three seconds or so. I have tried to tell them that I don’t want that option … Continue reading Binge Watching..
This thing about being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die. Prolonged life has ruined more men than it ever made. Will Rogers July 1928 I have been avoiding one of my heroes of late and that is a shame. Will Rogers has as much to teach us in the 21st century as he did almost a hundred years ago. I’m not much of a sports guy but from what I can get from it there are too many heroes that just don’t know when to hang up their cleats or whatever they … Continue reading Being A Hero…
Chan Lowe is one of my favorite editorial cartoonists. He just seems to know my mind and moods. Give me Spring flooding anytime….. Continue reading Winter’s Depression…
This is going to be one of my silly posts but with a foundation of seriousness. I know when I was in high school many years ago there was a clique system revolving around high school sports and physical prowess. There were the jocks and then everyone else. The intellectuals just didn’t have much respect, especially among the girls. I was definitely in the nerd category even if it wasn’t defined as such back then. But then we nerds did have our own group even if it was not popular among the high school population as a whole. I wonder … Continue reading The Jock vs Nerds…. And The Nerds Won…
I know the image of an old person is generally not linked to a dreamer but that is just what this blog is all about. Many think old people are just supposed to “sit back and watch”, their dream days are behind them. To that I say poppycock…. :) Dreaming is a lifelong process that never ends. My earliest dreams were to try to touch the sky, hence the name for this blog. For some reason I have always been attracted to looking up. Even as a very young boy in the 1950s I could be found lying in the … Continue reading About Dreaming…
You know the type, a guy who has to get in your face and scream to make a point. Kind of like the drill Sargent in the marines if you believe the TV hype. I personally have never been that type but if you cruise the Internet much and especially if you expose yourself to the comments section of most news articles it seems that the rest of the world has gone in that direction. They think they have to scream and rant in order to get their point across or maybe just to get the attention they want. They … Continue reading An “In Your Face” World…
I see in the debates how the GOP candidates for president constantly comment about how bad things are. I wish someone would ask them point blank whether they think things are worse now than when the last Republican president left the Oval Office? It would be very interesting to see how much spin they could put on that question. In that same light, it is a strange dichotomy how Wall Street is so anxious to get rid of Obama and put another conservative in the White House. During the eight years of the Bush administration the stock market went for … Continue reading There Will Always Be Sob Stories…
All CEOs including Facebooks’ Mark Zukerberg are paid the big bucks to be dreamers. They all have to have a vision of where their company dominates all the competition in the years ahead. Of course there are only a meager few who actually get it right. The rest take their millions and walk away and another dreamer takes over. I think Zuck really understands that by 2030 which is fourteen years away something else will likely replace Facebook as THE social site of the age. Fourteen years is an eternity when it come to technological change. But I want to … Continue reading Facebook in 2030? 5 billion users, says Zuck
I have freely admitted here that I suffer bouts of depression, especially in the winter months. I just can’t seem to shake that to any significant level anymore. It is just a part of me now. I was a “thoughtful” kid who dreamed a lot but it was not until I went deaf almost 30 years ago now that depression on any level creeped in Not being able to hear is depressing on a constant level but I have managed to deal with that for the most part. It was a good number of years ago that I discovered that … Continue reading I Think I Would Be Better Off…
Cats and Dogs… Some say they don’t mix but my experiences say otherwise. Over the past 20 years or so we have always had one of each in our family. That is except for the last year since we have not replaced our beloved Beulah who was taken from us by cancer. We decided she was the last as another would probably outlive us… Continue reading Critters, Again…
This editorial cartoon by Bob Gorrell sums it up as far as my feelings are concerned. It comes down to a quick and bloody death versus a slow and more painful one. Either way the country could be in its last thralls. Eight years ago I was an enthusiastic voter who financially supported one of the candidates. He won but just couldn’t live up to my expectations. This time around its back to eliminating the worst choice. Continue reading Sums It Up…
In 2008 when I joined the Obama bandwagon I had this underlying suspicion that he was more about hype than substance. That he was saying things he knew would arouse me but was mainly saying them to get elected. He, like Bill Clinton and George Bush before him, didn’t really speak the words from his heart. You can’t say that about Bernie. Sanders has a long track record of doing what he says. He also has a record of accomplishments that proves him to be a pragmatist that I believe this country seriously needs today. He votes based on substance, … Continue reading About Bernie…
