Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family. I hope 2014 is filled with much love, joy, and prosperity for all of you.

I always think of a new year as a brand new notebook full of blank pages just waiting for me to fill them. What will those pages hold 365 days from now? Hopefully a mix of adventure, joy, romance, contentment, and very, very little drama.

We’re not party animals, so how did we spend the last day of 2013? Pretty much like we do every day. We spent the morning checking e-mail and answering the ones that needed attention, reading our favorite RV blogs, and with a couple of phone calls to friends. Then we ran a few errands, stopped by Miss Terry’s parents for a quick visit, and came back home. Terry was busy with some administrative duties and I worked on a book project until it was time to write the blog. So just a typical night at home, working and enjoying each other’s company.

As the midnight hour rolls around I’m always nervous, because there always idiots shooting guns off into the air to welcome in the New Year. They are too stupid to understand, or care, that what goes up must come down, and a falling bullet can kill you just as quick as one shot right at you.

I remember a New Years Eve when I was a teenager back in Toledo, Ohio that was bad but could have been even worse. We lived in the upstairs half of a duplex and were standing on our second story porch just as the clock chimed midnight. The clod that lived in the lower level walked out onto his porch and cranked off a round from his pistol, apparently too stupid to remember that there was a roof (and porch) directly over his head. The bullet tore through the porch deck right next to my Mom, narrowly missing her but driving a shard of wood several inches long into her leg. It looked worse than it was, and once he knew she wasn’t seriously injured, my Dad went downstairs and was doing his best to use the barrel of the gun as a suppository on the neighbor, who moved away after he got out of the ER and jail.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for a new contest! This week’s Free Drawing is for an audiobook version of Explanations and Advice for the Tech Illiterate by Randall Morris. This is a great guide to the commonly misunderstood elements of computers and home theater and explains things in a basic, understandable way without sounding too "techy." Topics include: basic computer types, basic home theater (video), basic home theater (audio), audio / video cables, computer viruses, e-mail security, understanding encryption & passwords, backing up your hard drive, and computer speed/startup items. All you have to do is click on the Free Drawing link and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page. Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be chosen at random on Sunday evening.

When I called the VA hospital in Tucson the other day, they still did not have a time for my skin cancer surgery, but were “pretty sure” it would be Thursday. No idea where at the VA hospital on Thursday, or what time. So we’re headed back to Voyager RV Resort today so we’ll be on hand if and when they get that all figured out. We have no idea how long we’ll be there, but I booked us for a week under our $3/day Thousand Trails special rate. From there we’ll see what happens.

Thought For The Day – I wonder if clouds ever look down on us and say, “Hey, look, that one’s shaped like an idiot.”

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