What the @#$% Over?

I cannot recall a more awesome beginning to a new year. The weather here is simply beautiful. My mind is filled with positive thoughts. My heart if filled with love. Can it get any better than this? I think so, which for those that know me, realize is a miracle in itself. As I stand at the edge of the rest of my life, I feel stronger mentally and physically than I have in some time. I look forward to the challenges with a renewed energy. I look forward to the upcoming adventures with a renewed enthusiasm. The music has truly returned. Let's dance.

My week is starting well. I received an inspirational card this morning. It is alway nice to know that friends can be supportive. They say you can never have too many friends, and I suppose that is true, but selfish reasons I suppose I have always kept my list of friends short. Hopefully that is an aspect of my life I can change before it is too late. Monsoon season has finally arrived here in the Valley of the Sun. The northern skies have been brightly illuminated the past several nights with beautiful lightening. If it would make it farther South with a few drops of rain left all would be well.

In my thirties and forties I worked full time, often in excess of 40 hours a week. I often attended college classes two nights a week. I was a parent to two children and a husband to my wife. I still managed with all that to play an occasional game of golf and do other things that were strictly personally entertaining or rewarding. I often thought that I would still be a young man when my children were grown and I would have plenty of time to persue my personal interests, but I feel everyday like there is not enough time to do the things I want to do. I guess a lot of it is that I just don't have the energy, physically or mentally to do things the way I did when I was younger. Oh well, there is certainly truth to that old saying, "Use it or lose it."

I came to a startling realization recently. Well not really all that startling, but it was a realization. My journey across life's tapestry is over half complete, assuming I don't live some extraordinary length of time. I stopped a moment and reflected on times past... the good ones as well as those not so good. I certainly did not dwell or linger on the latter of those times. Now I try to concentrate on this times ahead, and hope I have many more good times ahead.

I am 74% Misanthropic Here's the truth: Most people suck. I am just lucky enough to know it. I am not ready to go live alone in a cave - but I am getting there. How Misanthropic Are You? http://www.blogthings.com/howmisanthropicareyouquiz/ I picked that tidbit up while reading the blog of another local motorcycle rider at AZ Rider For more about Misanthropic .

I was certain that when reaching this age I would have time to do all the fun things I wanted to do. Where does all my time go? Exercise Journal for today: 3 sets of 10 deep knee bends

I have really been struggling for sometime to improve my physical condition. I read lots of articles, mostly from my tip subscription at Bally Fitness and several subscriptions at WebMD . A tip from one of today's WebMD subscriptions was to keep an exercise journal. What better reason to visit here more often, I ask. So hopefully my exercise journal will be appended ( or more likely be the a complete record ) for that day. Exercise Journal for today: 3 sets of 10 deep knee bends

Already 10 days into the new year and here is my first entry. I will have to do better than that, but it seems I can't get much done at all on my todo list. I have been giving lots of thought to my upcoming road trip to West Texas. Hopefully, I'll have link to my trips page soon. Yesterday I became excited about a possible "Spanish Immersion School" trip to Central America, most probably Guatemala. The more I think about, the more I am convinced that retiring South of the border ( U.S Border that is ) is the best thing to do. In countries like Guatemala I'll be able to live quite "high on the hog", for what should be a significantly less amount than here in the good old US of A. But as we tend to complain about immigrants here who won't learn the language, I hope to avoid hypocrisy on this by becoming at least able to communicate in a rudimentary fashion in the Spanish language.

It finally warmed up enough for me to tinker in the garage this afternoon. It was probably warm enough yesterday, but I was too exhausted from lack of sleep to do anything. Being on call for my work can really impact my ability to get a good nights sleep. So with the warmth I did get one of my todo items done. My magna now has a VTX headlight. I'll take if for a test drive shortly to see if I can see any better at night or if I'll have ot give up night motorcycle riding.

Here I am again on call this holiday season, but don't offer your sympathies since I actually traded to have call this weekend ( and the next two as well ). If I have to be on call this time of year is usually the best for me. I am not much of a holiday reveler, and from a support standpoint most companies observer a year end close where there are no changes allowed. We all know the few changes the few problems. Maybe someday I'll get to give up this pager...(please)!

Today I attended the initial meeting of the East Valley Motorcycle Riders Group . I now belong to three rider groups. In addition to the East Valley group I also belong to Maricopa Motorcycle Riders Group and the Phoenix Motorcycle Riders Group . Not much else going on today, it was "allergies from hell" day here so the afternoon turned into a nap.

Today was a mediocre day as far as productivity. The day started with a back-ache that lasted all day. The pain made work on the storage room difficult, but I did manage to get the inside all complete except for finishing the window cutout. Now I just have the external trimming and I can say job all done, "Lets Ride". I also manage to organize one box of odds and ends in the other room.

Sung to the tune of a Winter Wonderland Palm trees wave, are you listenin'? In the pool, water's glistenin' A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight Livin' in a desert wonderland. Gone away is the blizzard, Here to stay is the lizard, A warm sunny day, we like it that way, Livin' in a desert wonderland. In the desert we will have a picnic, Cactus, sand and rattlesnakes and sun. Christmas dinner is an old tradition, It's pinto beans and tacos by the ton. Later on we'll perspire, Temperatures rise even higher, A warm sunny day, we like it that way, Livin' in a desert wonderland.

Since I last wrote here many things have transpired in my life. The most significant is that I have become a motorcycle rider. I suppose finding something other than computers to consume my time and money was long overdue, but motorcycling? Go Figure. Oh well, hopefully I can add more about my new adventures here soon.

My plans for the day unraveled early on as I had to wait to see if my services would be needed to evaluate the removal of a piece of rack mounted hardware in a computer room downtown. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately ( quien-sabe ) I was not needed, so I spent most of the day configuring a new computer I was given as compensation for some of my work for the law firm downtown. I had to buy RAM for the system, but other than that it was fully loaded with Windows XP Professional and the 2003 version of the Microsoft Office suite. It has several other titles that may prove interesting in the long run. As soon as my PVR provider releases their software version next month hopefully this will become my home brew PVR since I can't EVER seem to find time to configure myth. In the evening I watch "Raging Bull". For all the accolades, I found this to be one of the poorest movies I have ever watched. Probably due to the content more than anything, as I sure it was finely filmed, ...

It was the premier night for SciFi Friday, and somehow my PVR failed to record the season premier of Stargate Atlantis. I suppose I'll need to locate a torrent.

Hopefully I won't be able to set many more record bicycle riding temperature days. It was 114 today when I arrived home, but I was much less affected as I found a way to cut thru the Sun Lakes Phase III Subdivision ...shhhhh...don't tell them.

I set a new record today. When I arrived home from work on my bicycle today the temperature was 112. My previous high temp ride home record was 111 set a week or two or three ago. The cabbage was a good compliment to the left over bratwurst and I can say that tonight's dinner was an enjoyable repast.

Today I took my first real hike. I hiked the 3.5 mile Conuntry Club Trail in the White Mountains of Arizona. The trail was nice and although I am still quite out of shape, I was able to easily complete it. I did however manage a blister between my toes, which is a first for me.