Progress Report

Reading My Way Through 2011

So far, so good. I have read about the history and development of the airports of the world, which was a snooze, but I am glad I read it. I went on to read a book about a man who had a Lobotomy at the age of 12 and his struggles and tribulations and eventual redemption and peace. It was really good and very worth reading. Then, to clear my head, I rammed through the fourth book in the 'Dexter' series which was better than the third one, not as good as the first or second. I get the device, but the guy is supposed to be a serial killer and the body count is always racked up by the other killers. Dex gets in maybe one or two. The whole 'frustrated killer' thing is wearing a little thin. We'll see if this is fixed in the most recent book which I will read later in the year. Right now, I am taking 'A Walk in the Woods' with Bill Bryson following along as he hikes the Appalachian Trail. He has only just begun and I am already there with him. Bryson is a genius. A brilliant observer. An amazing writer. A great humorist.

'Walk...' will take me a little time. It's a bit lengthier and there is much to absorb in Bryson's dense writing. He packs a lot into as little as possible. He manages to get all the subtext of emotion through, too, so the spaces between the writing are important as well. You don't breeze through a Bryson book. You savor it. If you don't you'll miss half of it and that is a shame.

So I am on pace for 40 books. In the summer, I'll start reading two at a time, one for the outhouse, one for the bed side. For now, one is all I can do.

Dreams and Visions

Emily asked me to come up with a dream and outline some steps to achieve it. This as assistance for an exercise the Cool Cats (her hearing impaired student group) are doing. I have so many dreams, I don't know where to begin. But, again for the second time in as many days, goal setting came up as a topic of conversation. So, I shall set some goals and some metrics and go forth. My first goal is to find the time to pluck a do-able dream from the many floating just above my head which are not so tangible (like being a pirate, or owning an airplane, or having abs like the "Situation"), and set some goals. Baby steps.

Emily is focused on a garage. Good dream. Ours is moldering into the ground at an ever-increasing rate. It is alarming, actually. After 4 years of no discernible erosion, the old girl is coming down fast. The door, once nearly impossible to operate is now essentially impossible to operate. A window rotted and popped out of its frame. I think it was a load bearing window. Anyway, it is no longer a weather tight structure and it would be feeble to expend the effort to try and make it so.

The time is growing nigh and so we are talking about it in hushed tones with the vehemence that comes when ones hand is forced and action must be taken. I have offered favors of day labor to several friends who have projects they are working on in the hopes I can cash those chips in before too long because the only way I am going to get a new garage is to build one myself. And by myself, I mean myself and my army of fine friends who have carpentry skills and work for beer. Domestic beer. Cheap domestic beer. From a keg.

I am looking every day at the kit garage website and seeing if there is a closeout model that just went on sale for 90% off, but of course lumber never goes out of style, so that's not likely to happen. And of course the economy is picking up a bit so prices are starting to come alive. Unfortunately, my company hasn't heard of this new-found optimism and I am still operating on a salary reduction.

But even if I wasn't that still would change anything. The line between want and need is going to cross sooner rather than later and something will have to give. Likely that something will be the main support beam of my garage.

One Last Note

Sometimes I am myopic and don't really see what's going on outside my own sphere. I saw Clayton Pauer, who I used to work with at Barnes and Noble in Muskegon in December. It was all me me me me me me me me me me me. Why he didn't punch me in the face is beyond me me me me me me. And so while Clayton was apprised of all aspects of my life, I never stopped to realize he has some big things going on, too. Please go to his web page and read about his quest. He and Mike Spalsbury (who worked with us as well and with whom I was at one point going to try to be on a game show testing out knowledge of pop culture) are doing this together and need support in many forms. Give them a hand if you are able.

Clay-hopefully my plug makes up for my endemic egomaniacal inability to ask the simple question, "what have you been up to?" Best of luck and I can't wait to talk to you in person about your plans and how this all came about. Benne fortuna!