Tweet

I'm pretty sure that's what a bird would post on Twitter. I guess I'm too ancient to realize the necessity of Twitter. I don't have the need to tell everyone what I'm doing at that exact time and location. And I'm not too concerned about other folks business at that very moment. If you save it til later, you can tell me in person, and we'll have something to talk about. I hear about people who Tweet hundreds of times a day. How do these people get anything accomplished in life? If they're not Tweeting, they're instant messaging, text messaging, emailing, ..... whatever form of communication available via outer space. But not actually exercising their face muscles and tongue to shape the mouth and exert their voice box to form words to exit their mouth. They always have to possess a gadget to convey their thoughts. I don't know about you, but occasionally I need the function of both of my hands at the same time. This would be rather difficult to accomplish, say, moving a refrigerator and trying to Tweet about it at the same time. If you moved the refrigerator and Tweeted about it afterward, you've conveyed information that is now history, and that's not what Twitter is meant for. It's information in the making, not history. In a sense, you're giving your audience information they may already know. What good is that? Apparently we have the need to be doing something with our hands at all times. This is a common defense used by people who smoke. Once they quit, they're not sure what to do with their hands. I feel a generation needs a creative outlet. Do something with your hands that may involve a hobby. Go purchase a pocket knife and learn to whittle. The knife will never go out of style or become obsolete, so there's no need to upgrade for several hundred dollars. After you've created something handmade, don't take a picture and email me, bring it to me and show it to me. The emailed pic doesn't let me sense the excitement you're experiencing or the sense of pride you've actually earned. My personal device is not very personal, and cannot figure out how to express human emotion ..... I don't think?

Awkward

Causing or feeling embarrassment or inconvenience, is just one definition of awkward. Sometimes this feeling may come over a room when spending a certain amount of time with someone we only know casually. You may feel the need to have conversation, but not quite sure what to talk about to break the ice. You don't want to bring up a potentially hostile subject, just in case your audience may have a strong opinion. That would be awkward. There's also the opposite situation where someone may have been personally close to you and either party may have committed some heinous wrong against the other, and one of the members decides the relationship needs a clean break, either temporarily or permanent. Then you happen to be in a public setting, and find yourself sharing the same aisle of the same bookstore, or happen to be invited to a party of a mutual friend who is not aware of the strained relationship. That can be awkward. Sometimes people like to make the situation awkward. They feel they have every right to be there as much as you do. Technically, 'yes'. But, common courtesy should tell them 'no'. Listen to me, I sound like Ann Landers - up to this point. My solution is, be the more civil party, and leave. But not until you've told a few select people the 'whole truth' ;) How he ruined your sister's marriage by cheating on his wife with a sheep, or something like that. Some call it 'embellishment', others call it a 'lie', still others consider it 'retribution'. If you happen to be the guilty individual, spare yourself the awkwardness and embarrassment, by simply excusing yourself, and regretfully so. Time heals all wounds, and if you stand a chance of ever salvaging a relationship, time and space are a requisite.

New Job

I believe my new full time job is shoveling snow! Take this job and Shove ... el it :)

Very Trendy

As my family and I are driving down the road yesterday, we passed a neighborhood on our way to our destination, that we all agreed, we hated the name of the development. First of all, I find it rather amusing that when you reach a certain point west within the city, the neighborhoods all have signs to the entrance announcing the name of the development. I personally prefer anonymity. My neighborhood too is named, but there's no entrance sign. The only way you would have known the name is from the little grocery/drug store that closed up about 15 years ago. It was called Parkvale Sundries, and happened to be right on the corner of the neighborhood as you were entering. The name 'Parkvale', in my estimation, is much less pretentious than say, 'Trendwood'. Who in the world came up with that horrible name? Hopefully they acted alone, and not a committee's decision. I hate to think that multiple people made a bad decision. There's others out there that just do not seem to fit the Omaha landscape. I feel 'Bay Shores' should be sitting on a larger body of water. At least the size of Lake Erie. 'South Shore Heights' one would imagine it would be located at least ON a body of water. A puddle forming after a rainstorm on a vacant lot, doesn't count. 'Fire Ridge' must be located near those mythical Nebraska volcano fields. Shaker Heights - what's that? I'm sorry to be so critical, I know it's somewhat of a challenge to come up with unique names for these areas, but I feel there has to be a database of names to choose from out there somewhere? On the flip side of the coin, I feel there are some well thought of titles that capture the nature of the area, or perhaps the original landowner's name was considered. Loveland comes to mind. That happens to be the name of the farmer who decided to sell off land for the progression west along Pacific street. Also Tomlinson Woods nailed it. The Tomlinson property actually sits in a very secluded, wooded area. Nelson's Creek would be an apt name, if there were a creek. Then there's the developments that try to give off the latest trend in ridiculous. The entrance was made to simulate the Colorado Rockies landscape, and the name, 'Iron Horse', is the Indian name for 'steam engine'. I just don't understand. Another irritation happens to be in the older part of town. The whole area, known as 'Little Italy', has been redeveloped, and a sign announcing the entrance to the area, 'Little Italy'. Omahans shouldn't have to be told where these ethnic locations exist. That should be common knowledge passed through conversation, or pointed to on a map. This is the original identity of the city. It should be as apparent as your name. Marketing ploys should be left for children's toys. I am aware we all have to live somewhere, and maybe the location or price predicts where that 'somewhere' is going to be, but if I had more than one choice, trendy Trendwood would not make the cut.

Conundrum

That's a fun word to say, but not so fun to experience. If you happen to find yourself in a conundrum, it may be a difficult problem with no good solution. The lesser of two evils. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Two wrong answers, pick one. My wife recently brought this word to my attention, and hopefully throughout your life you continue to expand your vocabulary. This happens to be one of those words I've known for quite a while, but fortunately, don't get the chance to use. For some reason, when I do hear this word, it brings a smile to my face. It just sounds like a funny word. It will also get me to grin when I find myself in this situation, or, I happen to be clever enough to maneuver matters to my favor, and someone else now needs to make a choice in my favor. It's a win/win situation for some, a lose/lose for others. If you happen to find yourself on the negative side, it's best to just flip a coin and deal with the circumstances. If you find yourself coming out on top, enjoy the victory! It's kind of like a chess game. Someone has to win, someone has to lose. Eventually one player is going to find themselves in 'check'. A few strategic moves later, it could be somewhat of a conundrum for the other player, due to the fact that whatever move they decide is going to result in checkmate. Let's try to be optimistic here. If you find yourself in a conundrum, please keep in mind, you're not in hot water...... yet.

Deep Freeze

Has everyone had enough of winter yet? We're thirteen days into it and I'm already starting to ice over. It could be a long one folks. In my household, I'm already sensing cabin fever among some of the grizzlies. I hope we don't end up with a Donner party incident on our hands. I was looking at the forecast this morning, and Monday was supposed to reach 17 degrees! Meanwhile, we're stuck in the single digits for the high, for a few days. There's two things wrong here. First, I'm excited to see Monday come, and I'm looking forward to 17 degrees? It's still well below freezing, and nothing seems to move! I'm half tempted to evict the turkey and pork butt from the deep freeze, just so I have a place to crawl into and warm up! Look at the bright side. One good thing about living in Nebraska during the winter, ...................................................... When I think of something, I'll let you know.

Making Time

Time is a fleeting abstract. No matter what our social status, or where we fall in the food chain, man or animal, we all have 1440 minutes to our 24 hour day. That's 86,400 seconds if you happen to be in a time crunch. It's quite spectacular how quickly those 86,400 ticks go by, and then we start with a new clock the very next tick. It never goes to 86,401. During this race with the clock, we happen to slow down long enough to form relationships. I caught sight of a picture today of my grandmother and oldest daughter. It took me back for a second. At that very moment, those few ticks of the clock, I realized I miss her company. She's been gone for over two years now. Then it made me think about my grandfather and the memorable times with him. I miss him also. When they happened to still be roaming the earth, I would 'make time' to go visit, take the kids over, drink stronger than normal coffee, discuss their aches and pains (real or otherwise), and just enjoy a few hundred of my allotted minutes of my day and theirs. Since children have arrived in my life, it seems I have to cram more activities into a day. So my life, as is many common folk, feel that life is hectic and always busy. So the term, 'making time', does not mean you have the ability to manufacture that extra second at the end of your day (unless you're playing Nebraska for the Big 12 title). What that means is, you have to steal some minutes, or even seconds, from something else. So previous plans are going to be deficient of the time you've originally set aside. That could appear as neglect to some, multitasking to others. Since my grandparents have passed, my life hasn't slowed down. I still seem busier than ever. This led me to think about how my relationship with them would be if they were still here. Would I have as much time to spend with them as before? If my life were so busy, would our relationship suffer? Would they understand? I can only speculate, but I feel I would have foregone sleep, if necessary, to enjoy a few hundred minutes to spend with them from time to time.