The Emerald Rose

        Time for the short (maybe) recap of 2010, and time to reflect on the “big blue marble” and the upcoming 2011.

       Things I like;

                 Ambient Music – Going back maybe 20 years now I started listening to this strange genre in particular folks like Brian Eno, Ray Lynch, and that fantastic PBR show called “Hearts of Space”. Now I have hours and hours of it on my iPod, it went to the hospital with me during my Bypass operation, and was my “blankey” on many occasions as I was recovering. Even now when I go to the gym that’s what’s on my iPod. I’d love to get hooked up to an EKG or EEC and just study the impact of “space music” on physiological as well as psychological impacts on a human being,…works for me, I can tell you that.

                Pub Life – Not the just sit and drink yourself into space, but the kind where you meet dozens of “friends” new and old, chat about virtually anything, and just relax and hang out. It’s always been a lifesaver for me, sanity wise that is.

               Writing – another dark secret passion of mine. I’ve been blogging since 2005, and been writing for years, whenever the mood strikes me. Started several books, in fact I gotta kick myself in the butt and finish my book on recovery and life after heart problems, it’s called “OK,…so I’m still here! Now what?” I’ve been a computer since the 70’s and then as soon as I could afford it bought one for the house, yep, a brand new Apple IIe and the old green screen monitor and dot matrix printer, eventually moving up to the MacIntosh SE a few years later, while still using DOS machines at work and in my own business. It is mind boggling that we could ever run a business without the aid of computers now.

              Gadgets – Always been a techie in that respect, always had a gadget. From the old paper “Time management Systems” to the original Palm Pilot, to the Newton, then into the wonderful world of Blackberry! Let’s not even go into cell phones. I had the original ten pounder that was hard wired into my car, then like everything else they got more powerful, smaller and smaller, more spectacular in what they could do, until now a hard wired phone at your house is really no longer necessary. I am connected, synchronized, over app’ed and insane as the next guy. I’ve got one of those EVO 4G “droid” phones and while it really is smarter than me it’s like that little key chain puzzle where you had to move the little tiles to get the numbers to line up like 1-30, remember those. It is still my little puzzle, but now with my “nook” app I can sit and read a novel on my phone, get the odds on all the games this weekend, check the Premier League Soccer results for Manchester United, and google whatever I want 24/7

              Reading – As my business life grew I had less and less time for leisure reading, but this past year I have made a serious effort to get back to it, and be sure I read a little every day, (usually when I’m working out on the treadmill doing my 5 miles at the gym) I have a full size “nook” which I love, and it is again almost inconceivable that this little thing no bigger than a small book of poetry has a full library in it of at this point over 50 books that I’ve read, AND I can lend them to anyone else with a nook, it’s still mine but you can have it for two weeks to enjoy and read at no cost. Everything is done wirelessly. I thought it might just be me being a “techie” at first , as I was one of those, “Man you can’t replace holding a book and turning the pages, etc.” But I was wrong, wish they had these forty years ago. I can even get magazines and newspapers on it daily if I want. (But I still buy all my non-fiction and business things in hard copy, truth be known, because I like to underline, hi-lite, and make notes in them.)

              Working out – never thought I’d say that, but it has put a sense of balance back in my life that I was missing before, since I had not really exercised in thirty or forty years. I can be regimented, do a five mile hard walk, (3.5 -3.8 miles per hour) gain control of my heart rate, exercise the 70, 80 90 percent of maximum heart rate for my age and condition, watch TV, read my nook, listen to my iPod, man am I a multi-tasker or what?

       Now some things I don’t like;

               Working for people with less brain power than a gnat. Like the movie the Godfather, “nothing personal you know, simply business” Let me do my job stop  trying to micro manage me lest I freak and strangle you to death.  I am a FIRM believer in the Peter Principle, that a man (or woman) rises to their highest level of incompetence. Think about it. You do a good job they promote you, do that well they promote you again, BUT somewhere along the line you hit a wall and that’s as good as you can get, however modern management and personal ambition all decree you must be promoted yet again, and from that point on you are over your head with no real hope of treading water, and  obsessed with keeping your position or job so you have to spend more time making yourself look good and making those with more room to grow comply with your little game of self delusionment of grandeur, at their expense of course.

                 Cost of living – now that is, in a word egregious! This week is when I sit down and set up my budget for 2011 and try and set up a schedule of payment times, dates, and the rest for everything. Nuff said, whatever you makes, you pays out, forget saving. but that’s another blog but I can safely say that the cost of living has risen far faster than the rate in income,…looks like a lot of folks are hitting the wall.

             Well that’s a few things for you,….oh yeah, I’m losing the battle of trying to figure out what this RSS thing is and how to set it up and use it, (sigh), but there is an item for my “Things to do in 2011” (that blog will be coming in a few weeks,…because it’s on my list of things to do.

🙂

-30-

    “Once a gentleman, always a gentleman.”    – Charles Dickens