I got very sick on Thursday evening. Since there is an unexpected surgery in the family coming up, I was quarantined to our bedroom. I ended up watching Gods and Monsters (Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser), most of the second season of Everybody Loves Raymond and Beethoven (the dog movie with Charles Grodin). In the process, I learned some interesting things (that most people wouldn't give two whoops and a holler about):
1. At one time, I thought that Frank Barone (from Everybody Loves Raymond) reminded me of a very loved relative. That was only after watching the first two episodes of the first season. This is no longer the case.
2. Binding has many meanings. I learned a new meaning for it over the last few days.
3. I still don't like Charles Grodin (more annoying than a Woody Allen movie marathon).
4. My beloved Cindy is wonderful. Though I have known this for 19 years (now, since I have known her since 02Dec1985), I appreciate it more and more every day. I am willing to shout that from the mountaintop but, since there is no real mountains (at least in my book) on the East Coast, I will use this Blog to announce it. Part of the reason that I have come to realize it is that she endures someone that I am reasonably sure that I would want to strangle at some point. For the answer to this, click here!
5. Everyone looks at an arbitrary number (say, the year 2005) and uses that as a new beginning. They miss the chances they have with every single second of their lives. When I am granted another second of my life, I am on borrowed time (just as we all are). This is not depressing, but a very happy thought. I am glad that I have been honored by God to live that much longer.
6. I have come to realize that a necessary part of my seabag (for life) should be a handy dose of chill pills. A good friend from Oak Harbor mentioned to me that I need to "throttle back" (this person was from the Naval Aviation community). I now realize how true that is. A lot of things that I thought were aimed at me personally, never were.
7. For the first time (in a long time), the scales read a number that I hadn't seen in a while. Fortunately, it was a LOWER number this time. The 61 days that I have been working out on my Power Rider has been paying off.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year and pray that the New Year's resolutions that you made were reasonable ones. Keep up the determination and, even if you fail, remember that it is not the end. Get up, dust yourself off, and keep going. Keep in mind that Ty Cobb (one of baseball's best hitters) failed almost sixty-five percent of the time. Failure is nothing more than a dress rehearsal for success.
