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Sometimes my mind just wanders. I focus usually on a specific set of potential things and then my mind is off an running. I don’t really solve any problems just come up with lots of variables.

Today I was half listening to CNN as I thought about this blog. I was listening as the Arizona debate came up as the news story of the moment. I listened partially to the attack dogs realizing that it scares me what American politics has come to.

I started thinking about a world without politics.

First off in a non-political world the skills and attributes of any one person would be the determining factor in their value to any one solution.  It wouldn’t matter what their fiscal ideology was, only what they actually accomplished.

Which leads me to the following random political thoughts:

• When did we lose the concept of of the people, by the people, for the people?
• Can someone with more than 2 houses represent me?
• Can anyone who pays a tax rate of less than 25% represent me?
• What is the modern American dream? Horatio Alger created the original rags to riches dream. Is that still the American dream or have we moved past that to a more egalitarian – let’s take care of everyone first, then allow some to exceed.
• Is it a dream if it wakes you up at night?

Just my current state with the political mess we seem to be in right now.

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Yesterday I took my 3 millionth step since the end of June 2011. It is a milestone that means something to me but I doubt to many other people. However, my blog so I am sharing .

Posted two new podcasts over the weekend. A new cloud whisperer episode and one that talks through a current problem I see in the world of software architecture (nothing new).

So I have a question. It is not a question of earth shaking significance or mind altering impact. It is simply a question borne of years of travel and well I suspect a level of paranoia. How low does your cellular phone battery get?

1. I have nerves of steel my battery routinely gets to less than 10% available.
2. I am somewhat concerned when my battery hits 40% remaining charge
3. I am concerned when my battery hits less than 60% remaining charge
4. I am very concerned when my phone battery hits less than 80% remaining charge.

Are any of these statements true about you?

• I have multiple batteries for my phone.
• I have multiple external chargers for my phone.

Ok it was really two questions. I can’t tell you where I fall on the spectrum as I have to go charge my phone.

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The concept of upgrades.

When I was 26 years old (newly married the first time) I had a car I loved. It was a diesel ford escort. It could go three weeks between fill-ups even driving 200 miles a week. I loved that car but it was a stick shift and my wife (at that time) couldn’t drive stick. The reality was (that I found out later) she couldn’t drive at all but that was a different issue.

We traded that car for a family sedan. Then 15 months later we separated and later divorced but I was stuck with that car. I in fact kept that car into my next marriage and even moved with it from Bloomington Indiana to Cincinnati Ohio. We traded it in Ohio for a car that better fit our new lifestyle (a convertible). (I bear no ill will against my ex-wife we were both young and it just wasn’t right for either of us at that time or probably any other time).

The convertible was my wife’s car (well it was our car but I only got to drive it when it was cold, snowing or raining). That was fine with me as we also had the greatest car of all time a Subaru Station wagon.

We’ve had a number of cars since then (that was 21 years ago when we moved to Ohio).  I have moved on as far as my favorite car (its now the Mini-Cooper). The reason for this post however was thinking about the cars we’ve bought over the years. The things that we’ve added as the must haves in the past ten years makes for an interesting list so, in that spirit here is the list of must have’s we use when buying a car now (for us).

1. Satellite radio
2. Heated Seats
3. 5 or more airbags
4. 5 star safety rating
5. Rear Seat Entertainment (although this one which once was number one is now number 5 and sliding)
6. Enough room for everyone to sit, although comfort now is an issue.

There are a couple of things that have fallen off the list – CD player is one of them. Interesting how your list changes over the years. I suspect 21 years ago we were simply looking for a car we could afford.

So to anyone reading – what is your car must-have list like now?

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I am trapped in a series of literary quotes and I cannot get out. Please send help!

From the time I was 13 years old I have wanted to be a writer. I don’t know why I just started feeling that and it never went away. The thinking creation process of writing has always intrigued me.

I love quotes because of that. I have over the years stored quotes for the various things that come up in life. A few of them I have blogged as Sandler Boggs because they fit so perfectly but I couldn’t use them as a quote because no one had said them yet. Someone has to come up with the pity statements that leap from greeting cards to common vernacular.

The other side of being a writer is that language is your tool. As such you (ok I) can be a stickler for the meanings of words.

We went to the Pacifica Grill Saturday night. In every city Barb and I have lived we have always had a favorite Chinese restaurant. It is kind of a tradition of ours that we have a favorite place close by. In fact I think the only time we didn’t really have a favorite was when we lived in Maineville Ohio. But I was working two jobs then and poor Barb was pregnant with “the bean.” We had one in Western Hills, we had one in Mount Airy, we had one in Greenwood and now I think we have one in Maryland.

Not sure why that was relevant to share, but too late now.

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Just one more gadget ok, maybe two more. I was thinking yesterday on my walk (it clears my head and by the time I am heading home I usually have figured out the things that are bothering me.). I am still seeking that perfect multi-media gadget. There are so many solutions that are so close (Ipad, IPhone get me 90% there, but I still need the Ipod for storage (40+ gigs of music, 30+ gigs of video and over 80 + gigs of pictures.)

Archos was close for awhile. 500 gigs of overall storage and a promised HDTV Live broadcast dock. You could add video, record FM and play back HD video. You could even copy over  stuff from dish network receivers but they let that solution slide. They let the cool things slide and now they are just one of many offering a multimedia tablet. The new Sony device may get close, but like the ipad/ipod solution it will run into storage issues.

you can do all of this with a good laptop, either Macintosh or Windows based. But now you are bound to batteries and additional weight.

You can look at wi-fi storage devices coupled with an android tablet or an ipad but again, you are now bound to the devices battery and you are limited with those solutions (the primary ones using SDHC cards for storage so you are bound to 32 gigs over and over again).

There are a number of solutions that mix and match all of this for a car. But frankly when you are driving you should have much more than the music and the road on your mind so that doesn’t help. you can’t take your car into your living room.

There has to be a device that can do the following:

• 500 gigs of storage
• connect to my video camera
• USB so I can add a card reader to grab pictures off my camera
• live HD TV
• HDMI output
• Composite video output
• Decent music player
• FM Radio recorder
• FM Radio transmitter

Of course there has to be such a device. I can do parts of this with a number of devices. I can even add in the broader Internet radio reception and recording as well easily to this list. It can be done. Like I said over the years there are a number of devices that have gotten close. Just nobody has gotten the ball over the goal line.

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Sometimes you just want to say enough.

Of course you can’t. You can’t simply say that is enough because it won’t make a difference. You have to accept the cards you are dealt and from there move on. It’s a hard lesson but it is one we all have to learn. Don’t expect an easy row to hoe and you won’t be let down when its harder than you thought it would be.

When I was 30 years old I could step down the stairs and trip at the bottom on occasion. I would twist my ankle and it would hurt for awhile but then like everything when you are in your 30’s it would go away. This morning I stepped down the basement stairs and popped my calf. Enough that I had to go upstairs (which was painful) and get some icy hot. It was a long and painful trip and now I smell like ICY hot. Oh well.

The world changes so fast.

My kids are growing up.

I am getting old.

My hair is getting thin.

My waist is getting thicker.

Time has flown by.

I don’t miss being 30. There was so much I didn’t know then that I know now. I was a school teacher back then and struggled to make ends meet most of the time. I was divorced and felt like the weight of the world was upon me. Now I realize that things like that happen to everyone it is the course of human events.

Time passes so that we can understand.

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A path you choose to follow. I went for a walk at the end of the day yesterday. I like to walk at the end of the day rather than early in the morning. Early in the morning I like to reflect on a topic for my blog. Or I like to think about the day and do what-ever planning hasn’t been completed from the day before. I do not like getting up and getting on the road.

Years ago I started (when I was running back in the pre-knee pain days) in the afternoon. I liked clearing my head at the end of the day. It became a way to get past whatever was bothering me at the time. So I just kept doing it. Now for those who run in the morning, more power to you! I just like clearing my head at the end of the day, preparing for the evening and moving on.

There is a feeling when you are done walking of both completion and satisfaction. I used to get that about 1.5 miles in when running it takes a little longer while walking but it is the same feeling. A release of frustration and a freeing of the day.

Time to roll…

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I am

It is what was said

as the light was

turned off

the door closed

the world flowing away from

the room as though

attached to the very light

that leaving the lamp bulb

became particles of dust

floating as though suspected

in a vicious fluid

a bath of chemical

solvents

solving for X

but arriving at y

we spin around and around

for there is nothing to decide upon

there is nothing that can be done

what was

is no more

the light fading

in the distance

as though a taillight

pulling away

are you listening?

I am…

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Romance and the passage of time. Young love, with its PDA’s and snuggling the romance of youth is vibrant and alive with potential. However, as that love ages it changes. The cool thing about 22 valentines together is we’ve realized some of the potential. The love now is a compilation of what could be, what was and what is. that changes both what and how you celebrate. Love that has been around for awhile is quieter (because the kids aren’t around). Love that has been around is not just the love, it is the life.

Oh the potential is fun, don’t get me wrong. Each stage of love and relationships has both a unique sense about it as well as common things that will grow and share.

The reality of love and its stages is wonderful.

Now on to a more or less serious topic – manual typewriters. I learned to type on a Royal typewriter and recently with the sale of “Transitional Services” I promised myself I would get a Royal Typewriter. I had forgotten how much harder a manual typewriter is than a computer keyboard in terms of the pressing – I’ve always been a loud typist – having learned on a manual, but still it’s a little harder than I remembered.

I learned to type, write and think on a manual typewriter. I suspect the nostalgia affect will wear off but for now – pretty cool.

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That cursor is blinking at me again. Incessant. Reminds me of the days before cursors and screens of blue (or white or green or well any color for that matter). I began my writing life on a Royal Manual typewriter (and I bought one for the basement when I sold my first book for real money). I typed on that thing fearing only the blank page of paper in front of me. Now, I fear the cursor.

Not that the cursor or for that matter the larger sheet of white paper are any different. They are simply reminders of nothing to say. A blackness that fills you to almost overwhelming loneliness. But then the words start to pour out of you and you begin to feel relieved. I am not empty as the cursor seems to say (over and over). I do have something I can say.

Sandler Boggs would know what to do with a blinking cursor. He was famous for that – running to the Dylan Thomas book and lighting it on fire to rage against that light passing, Or perhaps he would dive into the works of William Blake, sharing tea with Tygers that burn bright and laughing as the works of Dylan Thomas were consumed by flames. Sandler always knows when to cut loose. Sandler isn’t scared of cursors he is scared more of being forgotten. When the time comes that he no longer has anything to say that I can hear and then he will be forgotten. Like some memory that passed beyond comprehension a faded picture of people who don’t exist anymore, yellowed with age the corners bent and creased.  That is the fear that drives Sandler (that and fear of poet’s reading their poem’s out loud.”

Now you can’t be forgotten Sandler. You are part of the interwebs forever. Well at least until the interweb is forgotten replaced by tiny touch screens that carry a petabyte of information and fit in your suit coat pocket. You are safe for now Sandler.

The cursor now, changed from white to yellow as the screen fills with text. It does forgive you not having something to say it just takes its time. Drives its message home with a hammer rather than with a feather.

I fear that little cursor.

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