Caffeinated Gonzo!

Happy Birthday to my old friend Mark Ramos, wherever you are… It’s hard to believe that the whole gang has hit or 40’s now. Wherever you are Mark, it’s been a long time since the days at N.S.H.S. and hanging out in the “G” for both of us. I hope this finds you well and happy.

More often than I would like to believe lately I find myself being or saying something negative or angry before I realize what I am doing. I don’t always know where the negative energy is coming from on these occasions, it just seems to be there under the surface and escapes when I am not on guard.

I am better at guarding against the behavior in public, but find myself too easily slipping into this behavior at home with family. I would really like to find a way to stop. My family deserves better. Although I know that I love them and they know it to, they do not deserve to wallow in my negativity any more than I do.

See more progress on: be less negative and angry

Before you go expecting a literary masterpiece, be advised, this is simply an open letter to friends and family written by me on behalf of my own family:

Dear Friends and Family,

And especially those friends and family that pitched in and helped my self, my wife, our son and our dog move out of one house and into another over the past few weeks…

We thank you for all of your help whether it was big or small. We thank those who favored us by helping us find boxes, fill them, move them or empty them. 

We thank the great crew, all 13 of you that pitched in on a great Saturday morning when all of us would have been elsewhere and doing anything else under the sun, but instead, loaded box after box, floor after floor of furniture, and seemingly endless stuff into a 26 foot U-Haul and drug it all from the old house to the new.  All with a little ribbing but no complaint.

We would like to thank our nephews, all teenagers who you know would rather have been anywhere else but at the aunt and uncle’s for two days helping us out, but they were with us and they were a great help.

I personally would like to thank David who tried very hard to not only work hard but to also stay out of my way as I prowled and growled about like a old man grizzly bear who had no desire to have my lair or my demeanor disturbed while I still worked nights through the whole process.

I would also like very much to thank my wife, for just being my wife.  She got it done.

I would also like to thank my buddies at the fire department.  Every last one of them that I asked, showed up and worked hard.  I know I could have asked for more to help and we would have got it, because that is the way firefighters are.

I would also like to thank Bill.  My brother-in-law swore almost seven ago he would only move his sister once. He did it again, pitching in Saturday and again today with the appliances, but it was all for a good reasons. Right Bill?  Thanks.

A special thanks to our parents, all of them ~ who have been a lot of help and support as we made some difficult decisions to move this Summer and who helped in their own ways whether they are near or far.

Thanks also to the Padre who has been patient with Debbie at work while all of this was going on and on. I think Debbie would agree that her mind was at least partially wrapped up in boxes for a few days.

We are still working hard at unpacking and organizing our new home but all of you are especially always welcome here.

Cheers and many thanks!  We owe all of you.

~J & D & d & Riley too.

Little Creatures

by Talking Heads

Certain songs, certain albums, certain groups define an era. I can’t speaking for everyone else in my generation who survived the 80’s as to the impact the Talking Heads had on their own existence, but I know that this album meant something to me. The Talking Heads barely made an impact on FM radio back then, but they found their way to my tape player some how, some way I can’t quite recall how. Once they did, I wore out more than one of their tapes in my car and songs like “And She Was” and “Road to Nowhere” always managed to make it on my road trip mix tapes.

Times have changed. I don’t make road trip mix tapes any more, it’s all about MP3 playlists now… but whenever I stumble across “And She Was” listening to whatever my truck or on my computer I always stop, listen, and remember very fondly 1985 and a certain someone who was very integral to my scattered life back then.

And whenever I hear…

The world was moving and she was right there with it
(and she was)
The world was moving she was floating above it
(and she was) and she was

I will always wonder whatever became of…

See more about Little Creatures

An old friend from back in the Denton days finally contacted me after years once I posted an appeal to hear from her on the blog. Lori Amor as she has been known for some time now, can be found on the Net here on her personal site from way back and also can been found at her more recently updated artist blog.

Lori is an American artist who has been living in the UK for several years since university. Some of her work can be be found online here and here as well. Primarily into conceptual art, Lori has some interesting projects in the bag and in the works.

From a personal perspective I would add that it appear that unlike many of us, Lori, years after rearrange her life in order to pursue a dream, she has definately done something unique with hers. Congratulations on that Lori. I wish you all the success in the world. I hope to be in touch soon to tell you more directly how nice it is to see you “out there.”