"I'm back..... in Mind, Body and Soul"

I have so much to say upon my return to the great north Texas area that at the risk of losing anyone with 1000's of words in one blog, I'll break everything down into a couple of shorter mini-blogs if you will.

In reverse chronological order

We blew in with a little help from Rita on Thursday afternoon after spending the night in Salado, Texas, a shopper's paradise, just north of Austin. We had been following the hurricane reports throughout our combination vacation/buying trip and I decided when I awoke at our unchanged wakeup time of 4:00 am that it might be a good idea to fill the car up with gasoline. There was a station near the StageCoach Inn where we spent the night and already a line was forming at the pumps. I paid $2.69 a gallon which had been pretty much the norm for the entire week. It wasn't so much the surprise of seeing the number of people at the pumps that caught my attention, it was the number of cars on the highway at that time. Interstate 35, which is the highway we were on, runs north from San Antonio to Dallas. It runs somewhat parallel to Interstate 45 which comes out of Houston with both roads converging in Dallas. I figured it was going to be a long time getting home and Pattye and I decided after a couple of hours of shopping we had better start making our way on the last leg of our journey. Sure enough, as soon as we got north of Waco, the traffic became bumper to bumper and we began scouring the map for an alternate direction. After stopping in Hillsboro for a short nature break, (Pattye informed me that there was a long line to the ladies room at the local McDonald's), I saw cars stacked at the adjacent Super Eight motel loaded with what appeared to be hastily packed belongings and people literally cooking in the parking lot. I met a family from Houston who had evacuated their home and were heading for Plano and gave them an alternate direction to avoid the traffic mess that was soon to get worse. After making some adjustments and heading west to ultimately get north we finally made it to our abode to find it still there albeit with a lawn in desperate need of watering and mowing. Trip distance 991 miles.

San Antonio.......and the beautiful River Walk

If you haven't been, I recommend everyone spend some time in San Antonio. As a matter of fact, I suggest you visit San Antonio before you visit Dallas. As much as I love North Texas, I could easily move to San Antonio. Just recently, San Antonio moved ahead of Dallas as the eighth largest city in the U.S. moving Dallas to number nine. San Antonio has so much to offer and yet it doesn't seem like a huge metropolis. The beautiful River Walk which winds through the downtown area has all of the ambiance one could ask for to enjoy sightseeing, good food and lots of entertainment. We spent 3 days at the Westin Hotel located on a more quiet branch of the river but only a few minutes of walking to the endless numbers of restaurants, jazz bands, curio shops and the ever present Mariachi Bands. One evening while having dinner we were serenaded by a duo, a trumpeter and guitar player, who accommodated us with the only request we could think of at the time, "Gauntanamera". Naturally we sang along although substituting our own words at certain points.

El Mercado....."A Taste of Mexico"

As the name implies, El Mercado, "The Market", was one of our destinations on our 7-day trek of finding one of a kind items for Gathering Eggs. This several block area west of San Antonio is filled with hundreds of shops with thousand of hand-made, hand-painted, hand-tooled, crafts from Mexico. The smell of leather wafts through the winding aisles while pinatas hang from the rafters of many of the brightly painted stores. Pattye sought out a particular location where she had bought several items in the past. The brilliantly glazed Majolica earthenware and the

beautiful Talavera ceramics quickly filled my arms as I made an extra trip back to the car with loads of inventory for eventual sale in Dallas.

Much, much, more.........

I have realized that I have written much more than I had intended and could go on endlessly and I have decided to save the rest for a later time. There is nothing worse than hearing about someone else's vacation and having to sit through a slide show for what seems like an eternity. So, in closing for now, I just want to say we had a great time, we bought a lot of "stuff", and we are looking forward to getting back in sync with working and enjoying our new careers, which reminds me, I have an interview with UPS in the morning. For those of you who have made it this far in my blog, I hope I haven't bored you. And, be sure to tune in next time to hear about the incredible amount of great items we saw in Fredericksburg, Blanco, Marble Falls and Gruene. So long for now!!

Adios amigos

NOS irán por una semana en vacaciones al país de la colina. Seremos que relajan y que van a las ferias comerciales en Fredericksburg, Blanco y Gruene. También permaneceremos en la caminata del río en San Antonio y haremos pocas compras. Tendremos muchas historias para decir cuándo conseguimos detrás y esperamos compartirlas con usted. Vaya a hacer compras en la acopio de los huevos y ayude por favor a pagar nuestro viaje. Vaya con dios!

If you would like to translate this you might try using This site for translation , but when I tanslated it back to English after writing it in in English and then translating it to Spanish and then back to English it didn't come out very well. Maybe that is why I took German in highschool!

Anyway, see you in a week!

"That and a $1.50 will get you a cup of coffee"...I beg to differ

With my days of new found freedom waning as I prepare to look at Plan B for a source of income while Pattye and I develop Gathering Eggs , I have been working on a resume of my years of collective knowledge and experience. I find I am somewhere between a hard-working, team player, traditionalist whose life's work is centered around problem solving to a dreamer, an idealist, a visionary in search of Utopia.
My list of varied occupations is partly due to a long time on this earth and my desire to experience new ideas, new ventures, new pursuits. Although most of the more satisfying enterprises have revolved around the journalism arena, the more productive choices in term of dollars involved satisfying people's needs either in sales or service.
But how much is experience worth these day? Can you really put value on experience? I think you can. I know you can.
One of the most unfortunate examples of lack of experience has been happening with recent inactions and blunderings of numerous officials during the Kristina disaster.
I keep seeing time and time again so-called leaders asking "where is the help". Mayors, governors, the people in charge, each going to a higher authority asking for someone to do something.
Who have been the "do-ers" in all of this mess? Who have been the ones who have made decisions, gone into battle, saved lives. Not the diplomats, not the bean-counter MBAers with the pumped up resumes. It has been the people who have served in the trenches. The ones who have gotten their hands dirty. The ones who have been faced with a problem and made a decision and acted on it.
Heroes are just every day people who have decided that they will jump in an get the job done. Why? Because sometime in their life they were faced with decision making and they acted. They experienced a choice and they made a decision. It probably wasn't life threatening, but it was a decision that had to be made.
Mommy and Daddy wasn't there to make the choices for them. They did it on their own and they tagged it for future use. They created a place in their brain and labeled it EXPERIENCE.

So what is experience worth? I think it is priceless.
Give me someone who has life experiences. Give me someone who can make a decision and think for themselves. Give me someone who doesn't have to ask "Daddy" to bail him out.
I'm proud of the lifetime of varied careers that I can put on my resume. I have learned so much and I can offer this knowledge to the people who want results.
Experience is enlightenment. Experience is skill. Experience is a resume of your life's achievements.
That being said, let's see how well it plays in the market place!

"Labor Day, and the 'Millennial' Generation"

On a day that we celebrate the American worker, it is fitting that we review how the work force has evolved into a new generation filled with new ideas and ethics versus old standards and regulations.
Without being too much of a curmudgeon, I offer the following observations:

• Regardless of what generation you are labeled, baby-boomer, x-generation, y-generation, or echo generation, you feel that nobody does/did it better than you.
• Hard work (Labor) = Success.
• Success is not measured by the size of your house, the length of your boat or the emblem on your car.
• Anyone can be a success in America.

In you watched 40 Minutes a couple of weeks ago (60 - commercials = 40) one of the segments reported on was the Millennial generation.

The Millennial children born to the baby-boomers, is the new driving force in America. Their values are in many instances completely opposite than mine and yet in many cases their values are very much the same.
One area that I relate to this younger generation is their use and reliance on the Internet.
I spend as many as 3-4 hours a day on the Internet, which is about half of what the Millennials spend from getting the latest news reports to writing/reading E-mail and now making an income. But if the Internet were to crash today, I would know how to not only survive, but live successfully without it. This is where we differ.
The Millenials do not know of any way other than e-mail, text messaging, camera phones or blogging to communicate. It's not their fault, it just all they have known. E-mail is now considered "snail mail", or what I used to refer to as the U.S. Postal Service. They have to have instant communication.
Writing letters isn't one of their tools of the trade. Complete, thought- out sentences are replaced with truncated wrds tht tak mr tm to decfr than it wld hv tkn to spl thm ot.
Communicating is not simply writing a statement, waiting for the reply and then replying to the reply often having to explain the first statement. Communicating is speaking/writing and reading/listening at the same time. It is not just a one-sided conversation.
Even in news gathering, it is important that one does more than simply peruse the headlines from all of the on-lines news agencies, but take the time to get more in-depth reports via newspapers, periodicals, television and most important other people's opinions.
The Internet can give you the instant news, but you have to be able to massage and interpret the message and discuss the information in order to understand what was below the surface.
And don't take the Internet as gospel. Anyone can post a white paper that can easily be picked up as the first search result in Google, and the information can be full of misinformation. When I hear, "Well, I read it on the Internet", a red flag is hoisted immediately unless I hear of another source to go along with the proclamation.
I have a lot of respect for the new generation and their willingness to be team players, their tolerance of their fellow man and their quest for success.
Their need for instant gratification however, does leave me a little worried.
I am still a believer that success comes also with hard work, sweat, and labor.
Labor has to be part of the recipe for success, and it can't be instant.
Thus that is why we celebrate Labor Day and the true meaning behind it.

"The Journey Begins......Day 1"

In staying with my new format, here is a song that should get your blood pumping as you read along. Click here for Music


Well, I did pretty good. I slept in until about 4:30 a.m., well kind of. I did wake up at 12:00 midnight, my normal time for the last umpteen years, but I rolled over and went back to sleep until about 2:00 a.m. and then got some coffee and then went back to sleep for a couple of more hours. It felt good. It felt real good, except I am definitely going to have to retrain by bladder, it's not used to such extended neglect.
You know, early morning is really the best time of day. There are just no interruptions. No phones ringing, no clogged cable connections, no sounds other than the occasional mockingbird (my arch enemy : see Mockingbird).
I dashed off a ton of e-mail to friends who have responded to our new journey. Completed a couple of surveys that have been gathering dust on my desk. Backed-up my hard drive. Deleted hundreds of old e-mails, well, deleted them from the deleted file. (I know that is a redundant system, but why do I have to reread the deleted items again after I deleted them the first time). Got my calendar/planner organized. Organized my CDs. Worked on my new blog format. Wrote a blog. Read on-line news. And then, it was only 6:00 a.m. Hmmmm, looks like this new found freedom is going to need a little adjustment.
We did have a chance to enjoy the sunrise though without a "beeper" going off telling us that someone didn't get their friggin crossword puzzle in their newspaper.
A couple of years ago we put in a water garden and I have never really taken the time to enjoy the truly relaxing setting but yesterday was different. I think I really relaxed.
The next couple of hours were spent makings lists of lists. You know you have your lists, but then you have to list those lists in order to get them in the correct priority.
Numero uno on the list is to get Pattye setup for full-time Gathering Eggs. We have dedicated 1/2 of the garage for her workshop. This meant going to my favorite store in the whole world, Home Depot, and buying supplies to make room for her.
Started cleaning out several boxes of "stuff" and found something that brought tears to my eyes. No, it wasn't my Honorable Discharge from the Air Force, or pictures that my kids had drawn for me. It was some old credit card receipts from 1978. One was for gasoline that showed that I had purchased 14.0 gallons for $8.40. If my math is correct that is $.60 a gallon. Whoa!!
This morning (at 3:00 a.m. I might add) I filled up for $2.95 a gallon and across the street it was $3.09 a gallon. Folks, it is going to get worse.
Well, the garage/workshop still needs a couple of more hours of work to get it finished and then I will move on to the next item on the list, which is, huh?, I already forgot.
After all that during Day 1, we still went to bed around 7:00 p.m. I guess this new time adjustment is going to take a little longer than I thought.

"I cried last night"

I cried again last night for the poor souls who are suffering on the Gulf Coast. I cried and I prayed. God help them, God help us all.