It is Monday morning, 25 July 2022. I have laundry going, a fresh pot of coffee, and an empty bowl next to me that used to contain a couple of scrambled eggs topped with cheese and leftover chili. I am being semi-productive at a moment I don’t really need to be productive, so I’ll call that a win.

I am on vacation… it’s official now, as I normally have a break from Friday afternoon through 7 or 8 am Monday mornings. I have a week to decompress, realign my magnetic fields, bolster my chakras, and get my head screwed on straight. I’ll practice some guitar, draw a few pictures, write some semi-meaningful words (more meaningful for me than probably anybody else, I’m sure), and think really hard about getting some things done out in the barn and garage.

It’s a good day for me to start my holiday. Overcast skies and gentle rainfall, cooler temperatures with highs in the 80s Fahrenheit.

Coffee moment…

I have a delivery coming a little later today, some new wheels for a new office chair. So many of the office chairs that we can buy today come with the cheapest wheels they can get by with. It’s a 20 to 40 dollar additional expense to get decent ‘roller blade’ style wheels. No point in putting the chair together until the wheels arrive.

I’m going to go tend to my rat-killing.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Sunday morning, 24 July 2022.

I was thinking about how you never see a group of professors criticizing the way semi-tractor trailer drivers drive. Most of the professors I know, and I know a few through my wife (who is a professor) have an awareness of expertise – a self-awareness as well as a situational awareness. Just about every professor I know understands that they know more than the average person about one or two things based on their education level. They also recognize that they don’t know everything and have no business criticizing others when they have no professional experience in that area.

I have this fictitious conversation going on in my head with a high school classmate.

“Hey Jon, that professor would like to talk to you about your driving”
“What?”
“That professor… the one with the Ph.D. in Romance Languages”
“What?”
“He noticed the way you were backing up your rig and would like to give you some tips”
“Oh, hell no. What does that clown know about driving a rig? Has he ever been in the cab of a rig?”
“No, but…”
“Tell him to go and **** himself”
“OK… hey he’s standing next to that professor in climatology… looks like they’re discussing the latest study on global climate change”
“Oh, that’s some scam bullshit right there. I need to go give that loser a piece of my mind”

It’s not a real conversation, but it’s not a difficult conversation to visualize. I do want to make clear that I’m not picking on truck drivers – I come from a family with some pretty good truck driving roots, with my dad having been an owner/operator as well as a diesel mechanic, and my brother currently working as a long-haul driver. I do mention a high school classmate that does drive, and based on his posts on social media, he spends quite a bit of time listening to conservative radio pundits that want to blame every single problem in the world on liberals.

I didn’t have any classes with him in high school, with the possible exception of gym class. I took woodshop in 7th grade and steered clear of power tools after that until adulthood. There was a core curriculum for all, covering English, Civics, and Math, but our schedules were different enough that we didn’t see each other much. I just remember having had a locker next to the guy in 8th grade, and I have a decent memory for my classmates.

I believe in experts. I have a tendency to trust people that have spent their lives in pursuit of a skill set, whether that skill is programming computers, researching pandemics, balancing the books, or leading a company. I trust long-haul drivers to deliver freight. I trust accountants to do the books. I trust veterinarians to care for my pets.

And I trust NASA Climate Change to tell me the truth about climate change.

I’m sending positive thoughts to my friends in Europe that are coping with record heat.

For those that think global climate change is a myth, or that human beings aren’t responsible. I challenge you to do a little research. Look up the top ten most common greenhouse gases – here’s an article from Popular Science from about 13 years ago. If you have a better source, please share. The other thing I would ask you to do is get information about the presence of those gases in our atmosphere and track the change in those gases since about 1955 or so. In 1955, CO2 parts per million was measured at about 315. Last month that number was about 420, according to researchers on the big island of Hawaii.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

23 July 2022. Today is my youngest daughter’s 24th birthday. Last night the family went out for dinner at one of her favorite restaurants and enjoyed a very nice evening.

I am currently on vacation until a week from Monday. Lisa and I are talking about what needs to be accomplished – the list will be long, and I may very well accomplish one or two things on the list. I keep looking at the barn, and if it wasn’t 100 degrees in the shade (38 degrees C), it might be tolerable to get some organizing done out there, but this July heat is unbearable and unforgiving.

I shouldn’t complain. I have central air conditioning and ceiling fans. Folks in Europe aren’t used to this kind of heat, and they are getting it in waves… and air conditioning is not a common household feature in many parts of central and northern Europe.

I’m wondering once again if I’m part of the solution or part of the problem. In some media, I probably should lower my profile. I’ve hacked a few people off with my interpretation of current events, and I have been told it is not appreciated. Oh well.

I’m going to get back focused on relaxing. My mind needs a little time to unwind.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

22 July 2022. It is Friday morning. The trash has been taken out to the road, and meetings start in an hour and a half, plenty there to keep me busy through 2 o’clock… then Bubba gets to take some time to close out the business on the table and prepare for Gracie’s birthday celebration and a full week of vacation.

Last night we watched a little bit of the January 6th hearings as they aired in prime time. Pretty damaging stuff, with the blooper video of Trump filming his post-Jan 6 video for his supporters. The outtakes were hilarious, and reinforced one important point – Trump didn’t want to step down. He wanted to hold that office as long as possible.

Trump let the mess go on for almost three hours before taking any action. He loves the circus – and I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point he wondered about the tv ratings.

Last night I posted on my Facebook feed I posted this following the live hearing coverage, “Worst dereliction of duty in the history of the United States.”.

Two of my friends took a little umbrage with my statement, one Canadian who thinks it’s not fair that there aren’t more Republicans on the committee, and another that brought up Hunter Biden. The Canadian friend said that Lynn Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney (VP under Bush) was a “Republican in name only”, and said the same of Adam Kinzinger. I guess the only real Republicans in his book are those that support Trump. I told my other friend that I don’t plan on voting for Hunter Biden… but I didn’t mention that Hunter Biden can still run a charity for veterans and children, unlike some presidential children that cannot by law.

Still no word on the loss of Secret Service text messages on Jan 5/6. Golly, I wonder how that could’ve happened – and so convenient, too!

Time to grab a little breakfast and buckle down.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

Good morning! It is 21 July 2022, a Thursday morning, the sun is rising, and the coffee is brewing.

Yesterday I planned on having a good day. Some parts went pretty well, I think my delivery was generally positive, but at some point right after lunch, I came to a realization. I need to get my ears checked.

I had one of my students asking me to do something, and at this point, I’m still not quite sure what he was asking. It seems that he was asking me to perform some pretty basic demonstrations were the subject of the labs – I interpreted that as he wanted me to do the labs for him, but I have to confess, I didn’t receive that message well. One thing I learned way back in my Speech 101 class in the summer of 1981 is that communication requires a message and a receiver, and it might be time to check out the hearing on the receiver. I might need hearing aids.

I’m done with my lecture component on this delivery, and I’ve got the next couple of days to get a few things wrapped up before I start vacation Friday afternoon.

Sometimes the “getting old” monster sneaks up on you, but this one hasn’t been quite so stealthy. I always knew it was a likelihood, considering my dad’s and my grandfather’s hearing loss. I just need to address the problem before it gets worse.

I’m going to wrap this up and get started with my day. There’s stuff I need to attend to.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

20 July 2022. It is Wednesday, and a day I have been looking forward to for most of the year – today is my last full delivery day before I take my first week of vacation this year. I have a tendency to focus on work for the first six months of the calendar year, and then once we roll over into the new fiscal year, I plan on taking greater advantage of my vacation and personal time allocations.

I’m kind of tired, so the break is welcome. I’ll likely have some emails I need to follow up on, but I am really going to focus on relaxing. I’ll turn the alarm clock off, sleep in, read, watch some stuff, and just try to re-balance myself.

I should probably go through my calendar though – I need to make sure I get my vacation time for the next six months on the schedule. I already carry over the max vacation time (3 weeks), and I don’t want to leave time on the table at the end of the year.

Last night I studied my material in preparation for today, and when I’m done with this, I’ll go back through my slide deck and check my notes, take a quick look at the demos I’ve prepared as well.

I’m a real exciting dude this morning.

Sometimes I’m focused on current events, sometimes I’m focused on weird stuff I come across, either a historical note or some comment that a talking head made.

I’ll just get to work on my day.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

19 July 2022. It is Tuesday morning. Today I’ll be monitoring the chat in the class I am co-delivering. I do like this security class, but I’ll be the first to admit that spending such a long time away from that course left a little dust on the books. Yesterday was not my “best day ever” as an instructor. It was OK, but I was asked to run a couple of demos that I wasn’t prepared for – the setup would’ve taken 45 minutes to show – and we were already going to be behind on the clock.

Currently watching some sports from last evening. US Women’s National Team versus Canada in soccer. I did get the word from a friend that the US won, 1-0, and I’ll watch until the US women score. Then I’ll flip back to the morning news.

We’re making some plans for the weekend. Gracie’s birthday is on the 23rd, so we’re going to go out for dinner Friday night. Gracie already took care of the reservations, all I have to worry about is bringing my appetite and my credit card.

Time for me to breathe, gather my wits about me, and get ready for the day ahead. Coffee should be done, so I’ll toss back another glass of water, pour a big mug of bean soup, and execute the plan.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

18 July 2022. It is Monday morning, and there’s a mist hanging over my little corner of Douglas County, Kansas. I have a security course starting here a little later, an east coast delivery that kicks off a little earlier than the central time zone deliveries I usually have.

Yesterday was a productive day. Right after Lisa and I had breakfast and watched church (we haven’t attended Mass in person since March of 2020), we got to work getting trash out of the barn – old mattresses from a case she was an expert witness on (the side she was on won their case). Having that bucket on the front of the tractor sure came in handy when moving some of the bigger pieces.

I get to co-deliver this week with an old friend. I’m looking forward to it. We decided to split days, so I’m up for the intro and section one today. He’ll take care of day two and day four… then a Friday of cleaning up loose ends. After that, I have a week of vacation starting next Monday.

I’m not writing with much purpose this morning. I’ve had a glass of water, but no coffee yet. Lily and Rosy are up and out of their crate, but they are not yipping a little at the bedroom door. Lisa is getting ready for her day, and the other dogs are in with her. I’ll drag my butt out of the chair soon and get to work on my breakfast.

Tonight, there’s some soccer to watch… US Women’s National Team versus Canada tonight.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

16 July 2022, a warm Saturday night in the middle of summer. Dogs are outside on the deck, and I know Lisa is about to open the door and let them back in, so I’ll adopt a relaxed posture and write a little bit.

I remember in college, I was taking English 101 with Nancy Avery at Wichita State. She would later start Avery Cards, a little greeting card company with some of the nicest little country cards you would ever like to find. Nancy asked us to keep a daily journal and write something in it daily (and yes, I give her credit for the initial push to create this habit). I remember how she used to react to some of my entries… she gave me credit for my creativity, but I think it probably alerted her to the odd directions my mind can turn on a dime.

These days I don’t sit down with a journal and pen and just let stuff flow. To my future grandchildren – If you come across one of my journals, open it up. If I haven’t changed my habits in the coming days, you may very well have a journal with ten pages in the front filled with gibberish, and most of a pretty good journal left for you to explore your creativity.

Do it.

OK, maybe cut the first few pages that I wrote on and combine them into a single mismatched scrapbook (crap book?) of mental skip days and moments.

I hope your life is structured so you have time to be a productive member of society, pay all your bills, and still have time to read good books, write your own thoughts down, and maybe practice an instrument if you are so inclined. We all need a creative outlet, some art thing that smooths out the rough spots.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.

It is 15 July 2022, a Friday morning, and my day is starting at a manageable pace.

Lisa and I decided to go to a baseball game in nearby Baldwin last evening. My nephew, Keegan, has been spending part of his summer playing for the Baldwin City Blues baseball club, part of a league for small college players to continue playing after their college seasons are over.

It was nice to see him and watch him play (catcher). He had a nice hit in the bottom of the 4th inning that drove in a run. That moved his team to a 9-1 lead, but the opposition came rallying and covered some of that gap, 9-6, but it was getting late for us old folks, so we decided to head home in the 7th inning. We almost stayed out until 10 on a weeknight … thrill seekers to the end.

I’ve got a few meetings today, but nothing too heavy. I’ll spend part of the day and this weekend gearing up the security course I’m delivering with another instructor next week.

The coffee is done… time to go grab a cup…

Later today I’m planning on getting a couple of things done. I’m going to go get my second booster for COVID, and I’m going to run by the courthouse and vote early for the August 2 election. It’s a primary for the most part, but the GOP Secretary of State tried to sneak a constitutional amendment into this election cycle rather than wait for the general election in November, as there is an expectation that there will be greater GOP turnout for the primaries, and their goal to change the state constitution to take away freedom.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.