Gabrielle Giffords

Representative Gabrielle Giffords is resigning from Congress. To me, this is a huge, but hopefully temporary, loss. We need people in congress who are bright, capable, determined, and never give up. We need people in congress who are willing to cross party lines and work together. 

I was mortified when the shooting happened last year. It was a deranged and unthinkable act. I was angry that Gabby had been reduced to a state of having to relearn how to walk, talk, and otherwise function. I was very happy to see how far she had come in that Diane Sawyer interview last fall…and thrilled with the Gabby who made such a succinct announcement of her intention to resign until she feels recovered enough to continue her work for the people of this country. She has made an astounding recovery to date, and I am certain that with her determination and positive attitude, she will once again run for a congressional or senate seat a few short years down the road.

Here's to Gabrielle Giffords. The rest of congress needs to wake up and take a lesson in life, courage, and conviction from this remarkable woman.

Organization...not exactly my strong suit

I have to admit, I am just not the most organized person in the world. I make lists and don’t get everything done.  I keep moving those tasks from one day’s list to next and they remain undone.  I identify the large black holes in my life into which my time disappears never to return, and I eliminate those things from my daily existence.   But the small distractions, well, those are the things that add up.

I discovered a little tool that I am finding to be quite helpful, at least during my time at the computer.  It’s called The Action Machine. It is simple, intuitive, and seems to keep me focused on the job at hand.   I like its ease of use. It’s the foil to Parkinson’s law, the adage that states “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

The simple design allows you to determine how much time a task should take, then the clock starts running.  It’s amazing how much I can get done when there is a time limit on completion.

At any rate, I’m having a wonderful time and accomplishing more than normal using The Action Machine as my personal motivator. If you think you might need a boost in your productivity, at work or at home, you might want to check into it.

I so want to write something positive...

…but, I’m having some difficulty here. River Road in Perry pretty much got buried. We are somewhere between 28 and 36 inches deep in the white stuff. When last we checked it was still snowing at about an inch an hour, somewhat preferable to the previous 2 inches per hour from this morning and last night (a huge negative).

On the positive note, I made an excellent pork roast for dinner (positive). Tomorrow we will be having tuna noodle casserole (positive). 
 
Although my broken wrist seems to be healed (a positive), I blew the tendons in my right knee out last Wednesday (a negative). There is a reason, as in no hip rotation. Sooooo it looks like a total hip replacement is on the horizon (negative, but eventually positive).

I have been ordered to walk with a cane to relieve stress on the hip (a positive and negative) and promptly managed to break my toe…by whacking it into the cane (a negative). I had to consciously stop myself from laughing at the absolute irony of breaking my toe on the cane meant to help, before my ribs started to ache.

I will end on a positive, though. I just wrote this blog while sipping a nice glass of my homemade Amarone. Wow, this wine is smooth!

I'm Listening to Amy Winehouse's...

…grammy award-winning CD, Back to Black. The CD was a gift from my nephew Sean. Of course it starts with Rehab. Too bad poor Amy didn’t treat herself better..another musical talent lost to drug abuse and its related health detriments. I don’t think Winehouse is any Janice Joplin, but the music is good, if a bit on the depressing side. She would have had a singular music career had she gotten past her issues.

I wonder if she would have resisted rehab had she known that her eventual outcome would be early death.
 
Those who do not learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

New Year's Day - 2012

I know I haven’t written anything in a while. Just smack me! I resolve to write a blog at least once a week in 2012, starting today. Now that Mom has made a significant recovery from her heart attack, the broken wrist debacle is almost over, and typing is back to a degree of comfort I can live with, things are looking up. I’ve made significant progress on “Finding Quincy Michigan” and hope to move forward quickly with the remainder of the story. I’m attempting to do at least 1000 words per day. This is not a resolution, just something I’m working toward.

Of course, I also need to make significant progress on the Mr. Whipple’s Woodchuck series AND come up with a business plan, website, and other business type stuff for the postcard book. I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me for the next several months. What I mean by that is that I have to make time to do these things in the next several months. I foresee a writing escape trip or two in my future.

I did make a resolution for the year...to learn how to use the camera I got for 20 years of service at work. I think I can accomplish that one small thing! I fail to understand how I can work my way all around a computer and all the software programs I use and yet become confounded by a new camera or a new phone.

All that aside, I bid a good welcome to 2012. May it be the best year ever.