My_HAT_is_older_than_you's Xanga

Present Arms!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:34:33 GMT

Present Arms

I guessed we were late. We were in the car right behind the family of the fallen though. Maybe I just did not understand the protocol. We were walking to the grave sight. I had Mrs. Hat’s hand in my right and my left arm around the only sister of a fallen hero. Her brother, in his Marine Dress Blues was already by the grave, He had ridden with the casket. We were walking down the little dirt road that goes through the cemetery. We were close to the big black Tennessee walker horse. He had boots reversed in the stirrups and was dancing and restive.

We had passed miles of flashing lights along the way from the chapel. Police and fire and rescue vehicles paying silent homage to a fallen hero. There were uniforms of every description in all directions. I was one of the few in a black suit. I was not the only one in a cowboy hat. Not by a long ways. There were dozens of Texas State Troopers there. They still wear cowboy hats to work, too.

We were all heading from different directions to the little faded green awning that would shelter the family at the grave sight. Then some man with lungs of brass yelled loudly and with awesome authority into the stillness and grief.

ATTENTION!!

Every single one of us froze in place. We stood tall and straight and stared in the man’s direction.

Waiting.

Frozen.

He bellowed again.

PRESENT…ARMS!!

Those bearing weapons slowly and solemnly gave the military salute. The few of us who were unarmed and bearing only our grief slowly saluted with our right hand over our heart.

The coffin was then carried slowly, reverently toward the grave.

We all stood there at attention, paying final honors to a fallen hero.

Presenting arms.

That was when the bagpipes began. Two bagpipers, in full kilt, had been standing unnoticed on the far side of the simple country cemetery. From anywhere you were standing in that place, if you looked to the west, you could see that big black horse with the boots reversed in the stirrups and beyond him the two bagpipers, facing each other, playing Amazing Grace.

We all of us stood there in silence. Many of us weeping.

Presenting Arms.

Truly freedom is not free. The cost is at times almost unbearable.

Honor a veteran this day.

PRESENT…ARMS!!

Old Hat

Double Christmas

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:35:45 GMT

Double Christmas

Mrs. Hat and I attacked our to do list with a vengeance yesterday.

We have tried to coordinate our lists for many years now so that we are working in the same direction even if we aren’t working on the same things. Yesterday we decided to work on the same things.

I am amazed and amused at what we chose to do first. Our perspectives have changed a lot since last year about this time. I guess it would be fair to say our priorities have changed some, too. Mostly though I would say that our priorities are more aligned than they have ever been. We know when to say something is urgent but just not important and we know when to do the important even when there is no real urgent reason to do it now.

The first thing we did on our joint list was to go shopping for new Christmas decorations. Something you might not find urgent or important. The thing is, Christmas kind of missed us last year. I know we had Christmas at our house, but neither of us actually remember it. We both still have presents from last December that we have yet to get around to making use of in any way. I don’t remember most of it.

This year will be different if we have our way. So one of the important things we decided to do was make our home look different this year. We are going to have an angel room. We are going to have a Nutcracker room filled with candy ornaments and, of course, nutcrackers. We are seriously thinking about buying a new tree. With the lights already on it. Lots and lots of them. Different.

We went to the Christmas Store here in town. We oohed and aahed and laughed and giggled and then we got a buggy and went to work. The ladies who work there were impressed at how much we managed to get into the little red buggy. As we unloaded it and Mrs Hat’s purse was revealed they were even more impressed. They wanted to know where she got it. The answer is that she got it for Christmas last year and only took it out of the box a month ago. So I have no idea where it came from. We explained to them why. That explained why we bought so much new stuff, too. We are celebrating a double Christmas this year.

I started making trips to the truck with our new Christmas decorations. Mrs. Hat waited there with the Christmas Store ladies. When I came in for the last of the loot, the giant candy canes, and Mrs. Hat I was surprised that before they let us leave the misty eyed ladies hugged my bride tightly and told her they hoped this was the best Christmas ever.

I hope so too. I expect it will be slimmer in the gift department but I know it will be doubled in joy and thankfulness.

I have very high hopes for it actually.

It will be a double Christmas.

Old Hat

Coping Skills

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:09:42 GMT

Coping Skills

Thursday was a difficult day. Bad news seemed to come from all directions at once and it just kept coming. The news; cell phone; texts; emails; private messages; status updates on Facebook.

We did what we could in regards to each bit of news as it came in. We offered comfort where we could and wisdom where we had any. We sent kind words and electronic hugs and lots of love. We prayed a lot.

We also changed our schedule. We got out of the house. It was a hassle and we were perpetually running late. It would have been easier to just sit home and wait by the phone. But we have learned in a very hard school that life goes on and we have determined to go on, too.

We also decided not to spend any time slaving in the kitchen for supper. Who knew what would happen next? We decided to eat dinner out. Not just a burger this time either. We went to the steak house. Go big or go home, I always say. We laughed with the waitress. We threw peanut shells in the floor and blew our diet and had all the fun we could find. Because we have learned in a very hard school that there is always time for the tears. You have to make time for the laughter. We did that.

We came home to more bad news. Shocking and unexpected news from a good friend about a good friend. I struggled to read the news to Mrs Hat through my tears. I seemed to have lost the hang of Thursdays.

I posted a blog about the last piece of bad news and I thank you all for responding with so much love and kindness. I have truly the best friends.

As I hit submit, Mrs. Hat and the poodle came by my office on the way out for the poodles evening constitutional. I said something as they passed but nobody heard me. Mrs. Hat had been on the exercise bike and still had her earphones on with her best bike riding music still playing. I got up and followed them out.

We have been seeing a lot of coyote here lately. They are much too brazen to be this close to the house. I am afraid they might develop a taste for fluffy French poodle. I trust Mrs. Hat to handle just about anything and she is mostly back to normal, but I think if a poodle snatching coyote needs to be run down and killed I should do it myself. So I followed them out.

I walked off the porch and a down the sidewalk to the mailbox. Mrs. Hat stopped about halfway and looked all around. Then she turned to me and I walked to her and she stepped into my arms. She took one of her ear pieces and placed it in my ear so we were sharing the iPod and enjoying one of our favorite songs. It was a live concert version we were there for. We listened for a moment and held each other tight. The most natural thing in the world for us to do was start dancing.

We danced there in the moonlight. Together. We have learned in a very hard school that the best way to receive bad news is together. We have learned in that very hard school that dancing almost always helps.

Dancing in the moonlight with my girl soothes my soul.

Old Hat

Prayers and Kind Words Needed

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:18 GMT

A dear friend of mine here on Xanga is living out what I have spent my year in fear of here. She has lost her sweetheart. Her husband, her soul mate, her best friend died suddenly on Monday night.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

I know many of you believe in the power of prayer. I would ask that you lift her up in your prayers. If you are doing so, please let her know.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

I know many of you know the power of love because you too have found your soul mate. Your best friend. If you can imagine the loss she is going through please reach out and share a kind word with her.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

I know you may not know the right thing to say. That is because there is no right and perfect thing to say. I am just asking you to show up and say something kind and compassionate.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

The days are filled with work and friends and family. The nights though…oh the nights are long. I know some of you are night owls. I would appreciate it if you were able to leave her comments in the night. I know it would be such a welcome comfort. To know she is not forgotten, even in the long nights.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

Gal is a woman of great compassion. She has been a blessing to Mrs. Hat and me this year. I love her and I love you. I think one of the best uses of our time here together is to comfort those around us who are hurting. My friend Gal is hurting right now.

http://nvgal.xanga.com/

Prayers and kind words needed.

Old Hat

Updates

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:36:16 GMT

Updates

The iced tea maker died last night. The last batch of tea was not drinkable despite the valiant gasping effort by the poor, dying machine. Funeral arrangements have yet to be made.

I noticed this morning that I only have one coffee filter left. How does something like that sneak up on a man like me? I have no idea.

I am the kind of fellow that will go to Wal-Mart when I am out of coffee filters just to buy coffee filters. While I am there I will pick up a new iced tea maker. I would never go just for a tea maker though.

I installed new energy saver fluorescent light bulbs in the porch area. They seem to get brighter all night long. They start out kind of anemic, but after an hour or so they are amazingly bright.

The light fixture over the dining room table was down to one bulb lit and two bulbs dead. One of them has been out for several years. I have not been able to get the old bulb out and for technical reasons I am unable to replace the fixture. I have tried. Last night, for some reason, the long dead bulb came out. We now have three brightly shining bulbs over our dinner table. Wonderful!

I am drinking coffee out of a hotel mug that I did not steal. This is the only hotel mug I have that can be said about. =) We were staying in San Antonio. Six people in one room. One bathroom. Toilet clogged. Called and asked to have a plumber come up. No plumber. They did have a plunger available though and no empty rooms to offer us. I became the hotel plumber. I even had to march down and get the plunger myself. The next morning they brought me a nice coffee mug filled with candy to express their amazement at my plumbing skills.

The Pope, I am sad to report, has never written me back. I know he is busy and does not read English, but I was really hoping…

The right side pedal keeps falling off of the recumbent stationary bike. The very expensive recumbent stationary bike. I need to find out how to permanently fix that irritating problem. Mrs. Hat is riding up a storm these days. The doctor’s parting words were “vigorously pumping blood does not clot. She took that very seriously.

Mrs. Hat is doing very well. She is back to almost all of her pre clot activities. I am still doing the laundry though. Whenever I mention that she might be able now to take back that chore she has a relapse of sorts.

The touch screen on my cell phone only works in certain places. This leads to some funny mistakes sometimes.

I spent Halloween evening handing out water bottles at a friend’s house in a nearby neighborhood. I had a blast. I saw a dozen kids that I have coached in one sport or another. My, how they do grow up. Some I did not know by name until I saw their mom or dad. I told them it was because their costume was so awesome.

The new mailbox is working fine.

I need to buy a new laptop, but I just cannot bring myself to part with that much money right now.

We have had a week with no rain but we are still under a flash flood watch. This has been the wettest October in my memory.

I am delighted to report that the new crock pot worked like a charm. I will happily be having pork roast sandwiches all week.

It is my month on lock up duty at the church. So if I get overzealous and you get locked in…call me.

I am off and running and running off.

Have a great Wednesday!

Old Hat

Debt

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:00:16 GMT

Debt

There is a very old boondoggle in the sales profession. Some version of this scam was more than likely going on back when caravans were the main means of commerce in the world. I have some suspicions that Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus might have gotten started in this way. I cannot think of why they would so desperately look for new markets unless something like this was behind it. I wonder about motivations a lot.

There are always sales managers that are willing to make false promises to get people who have never sold anything before to give sales a try. Some are just simple bald faced lies. The rule of thumb in those situations is that if something seems too good to be true then it is. Some people forget that thought and they actually take the job and waste a week or two figuring out the boss was a liar. Nothing lost but time. Frustrating, but not the end of the world.

There is a more sinister version of the scenario though.

It was always a favorite of land developers. Some company would decide to sale lake property by the lot, for instance. The sales manager would place an ad in the paper with all of the standard bait. “Huge commissions! No experience needed! On the job training provided!” Back in the day they might even do group interviews over a free lunch.

Some poor guy who really needed a job would be interviewed aggressively and then offered the job. He would be excited until the boss told him that he would need to wear a suit to work each day. The poor guy had no suits. “No problem”, says the boss,” I can maybe help you out with that.” Then he would be told he would need a car to drive potential buyers around in. The poor man had no car. Just an old beat up truck. The kindly boss would have a brother in law or best friend who happened to sell good used cars that might be able to carry the note for the newly employed young man. The boss would put in a good word for him.

You probably see where this is going.

The new guy buys a car on credit. The new guy buys a new wardrobe on credit. So now it is his first week of work and he is up to his eyeballs in debt. The boss then tells him he’d better dang well sell some properties quick or he is going to be in big trouble. The new guy is in trouble and he knows it. What does he do? Whatever he has to do usually. He has to raise the money from somewhere. Even if it means being shady or underhanded. This level of debt cannot be paid for while maintaining your standards. I’ve seen this happen.

Unfortunately, I see it happening again. This time it is not some new hire at a shady property developer. This time it is the national government. This level of debt cannot be paid for while maintaining high standards. The truth is, though, that the government has no money except for what it collects from its people by way of taxes.

That means that is you and me going into this debt.

I don’t care who you voted for. I don’t care which party you are aligned with. I just want to remind you that what you find to be true about your money is true about the money the government is using. Your creditors expect to be paid. If your outgo exceeds your income then your upkeep will be your downfall. If you stop paying your bills they start turning things off and taking things back. If you get enough debt then you will spend all of your extra money paying interest.

The rules of managing your money are the same no matter how many zeroes and commas are involved. I have noticed many times that the more debt someone has the more likely they are to do something crazy or shady to try and manage the unmanageable debt. I think the government has more opportunities to do shady things than you or I would. The problem is that they ultimately are doing it to us.

The current national debt is a very big number. Trillions.

$11,905,302,507,679.76

That makes your citizen share of it $38,752.14. This level of debt cannot be paid for while maintaining your standards.

Any old cowboy can tell you that when you find yourself in a hole the first thing you should do is stop digging. You might want to tell your politicians to put down their shovel, too.

Old Hat

Single Minded

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:19:34 GMT

Single Minded

I have often told my married friends who have decided that they have had all they can take of married bliss and come to me for advice the same thing. You must have been better at being single than I was to want to go back to that state. I was awful at being single. I am not really all that good at being married, I’m afraid, but I am trying hard. One of the things that has kept me trying hard over the years is my absolute horror at the thought of having to be single again.

I was never able to get comfortable in my role as bachelor even during the rough times when I swore off women entirely. I was a pinto beans from the can, saltine crackers from the box, good beer from the bottle while sitting in my Kmart lawn chair kind of single man. Pathetic. Just pathetic.

The most expensive item in my bachelor pad apartment was my stereo. It was awesome. It was proudly displayed on a stereo cabinet made of haydite blocks and scrap lumber all carefully balance tested with no use of glue or fasteners of any kind. Easy to assemble, too. Ikea, kiss my foot. Of course, no one in Texas had ever even heard vague rumors of Ikea back in my single days. I did eventually get a hand me down couch to expand my living room suite. The orange and bronze velour, fall leaves motif of the couch did not really coordinate well with my green and yellow nylon lawn chairs but how was I supposed to know that? I was single.

I did have one of those round dining room tables that have the one central column for support and always seem to be leaning in one direction or another. You could probably tighten it up if you were to walk out to the truck in the parking lot on the far side of the building and bring in your toolbox. But why? I mean, nobody is ever going to see it but me. Right?

My kitchen was not much better equipped. I went into the world with a short list of recipes in my mind for how to make a few dishes that I especially liked. I had to like them because I would have the leftovers to eat for days and days. I used to make an awesome chicken and rice dish. I had no casserole dish though, so I had to take the handles off of my dutch oven and bake in it. Even I thought that was kind of sad and I was single. There is nothing that screams “single” louder than round meatloaf.

I also had no cork screw. Actually I did not even know what a cork screw was. The beautiful Miss Co-ed (now the beautiful, surprisingly she married me anyway, Mrs Hat) decided to surprise me with a lovely dinner at my apartment back in our courting days. It was a man caused disaster. A single man caused disaster. I had never seen such scrawny chickens before and had never even heard of Cornish game hens. A wedge of iceberg lettuce appeared to be a lazy way to make a salad to me and oil and vinegar are a lubricant and a cleaner respectively and I refused to eat them at all, much less together and with little bits of things scattered through out. But the truly astonishing thing to Miss Co-ed was that, not only did I not own a cork screw, I had no idea what one was. I made her describe it to me and how it was used. I made the long walk to my truck and came back with a pair of pliers, a pair of vise grips an assortment of wood screws. It worked better than you might expect and once we found my colander and strained out some of the bigger cork pieces the wine was not half bad.

Yes. She married me anyway. Can you begin to imagine what I have put this poor woman through?

I had an upstairs bedroom. I don’t remember what they called that floor plan, but I think I paid an extra $50 a month just for that special word they used. “Flat” or “loft” or something like that. I think it must have been a French word that meant small, steep stairwell. Seriously. These stairs were so steep that a billy goat would have stayed down stairs. I think the only reason they put carpet on the stairs it so it would look less like a ladder. The steep stairs nearly killed me once.

In spite of having grown up in a house filled to the brim with women and girls, I never got the hang of pajamas. I had to at least wear underwear to bed until I moved into my bachelor pad. After that I slept comfortable. =) Late one night or early one morning, I forget which, my plectron went off. A plectron is an antique torture device that was often used to inflict sleep deprivation on firefighters. Mine went off and I sprang from the bed and decided I would get there faster if I skipped the skivvies and went straight for my jeans. I was wrong. I had a man caused zipper disaster, or a zipper caused man disaster, on about stair number three and fell the rest of the way to the first floor. That was my very last attempt at going commando.

Some lessons only have to be learned once.

It was my bachelor pad, and yes, I did have a racy poster in it. A beautiful pin up girl rolling on the beach with a come hither look in her dark eyes. I think “pin up girl” might be the old school phrase that is translated today as “ho”. I was pretty self conscious about that poster though. I had it on the wall in my bed room for a while, but even that seemed wrong. I eventually hung the sultry hussy on the inside of my closet door so that I could close the door if I had company that would be offended by my choice of wall décor. Come to think of it, that poster was the only wall décor I had in the whole place.

At some point in our dating years, Miss Co-ed declared that either the poster went or she did. I was conflicted. Not about getting rid of the hussy poster. Vibrantly alive, beautiful, intelligent girl who can cook and shoot and dance versus paper taped to inside of closet door is a simple decision for this man. I was single, not brain dead.

The conflict was what to do with the poster. I hated to just throw it away, for reasons that only a single man would think were reasonable. I hated to give it away to another single friend though. That would feel weird. Kind of like contributing to the delinquency of a single man. They do not need help in that area. I finally decided there was no way to further debase the morals of my firefighter buddies so I took the poster to the fire station. To my great astonishment a bidding war broke out over the poster. Quickly adapting to my new role as auctioneer, I drove the price right up until the only way any of the boys could afford it was to pool their resources. I sold the poster to B shift for the princely sum of fifty dollars.

For all I know, the hussy poster could still be taped to the ceiling in the weight room right over the weight bench serving as a sultry encouragement for today’s fire fighters to try just a little bit harder.

I am sad to say that event was not the end of my single daze, but it was the beginning of my being so single minded about no longer being single.

For those of my young single friends who don’t like it, hang in there. I made it through and you are infinitely smarter than I was. For my married friends who have over glamorized your single days, think carefully before you decide to return to them. For myself, I am going to go find Mrs. Hat and give her a big kiss and a big hug.

I am a fortunate man.

Old Hat

Man Down!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:13:20 GMT

Man Down!

It is an interesting fact of life that some of the people who are capable of giving the best advice to others seem incapable of knowing what to do in their own situations. If they could see someone else in their situation they would know just what to do. They just cannot see it for themselves. That is hard to do sometimes.

It was one of those house fires where so many things went wrong.

As soon as we arrived on scene, the lieutenant declared we would attack the fire by going in the front door. In the movie I watch in my mind the starting scene is running a little fast and we look a bit like the Keystone Cops. I grabbed an axe and went to the front door while the others were strapping on air tanks and dragging out fire hoses. I gave the door what I expected to be a mighty whack. It just bounced off the door and I didn’t even see a mark on the paint. I drew back my axe and loaded up all my strength and prepared to hit a spot about three feet beyond the door. I never got to land that blow. Lt. Paul had grabbed my axe handle near the top and just kind of held it perfectly still while I flopped ridiculously on the end of it.

I was stunned at how easy it was for him to thwart my efforts to knock that door down. When he saw I had given up my puny efforts he very firmly made certain he had my complete and undivided attention. In the movie in my mind this part happened in slow motion. Lt. Paul reached down, put his hand on the door knob and turned it gently. The door opened and swung inward. And that, little children, is a perfect example of what kind of firefighter I was. =)

I was not the only one making foolish, simple and dangerous mistakes. We had a team that headed in the front door with a charged fire hose. They were in a kind of central hall with rooms opening off to either side. There seemed to be fire in several places and they were scouting their way cautiously along the hall. All of a sudden another team broke out a window and sprayed water through a bedroom filled with fire just as the hallway team opened the door. The men in the hallway were like lobsters being steamed. It was awful. Miscommunication is a horrible thing and in a fire can be a dangerous thing.

Things kept going like that. Badly.

At some point in this disaster of a night, my partner Billy went down to smoke inhalation. The cries of “MAN DOWN!” rang out all around. That phrase always brings a chill with it. It also brings an absolutely frightening determination. Failure is just not an acceptable option. Period.

We got him out and wrestled him out of half of his gear. He had a pulse. We got him breathing again. We loaded him in the ambulance. Bulldog drove. I was the GIB. The guy in back. I have already told you I was only at best a poor fireman. The back of a running code three ambulance though seemed to be my natural element. They did not send me with Billy because I was his partner. They sent Billy with me because I was the one most likely to get him to the hospital.

I was still wearing my bunker pants and boots. I still had my century helmet on my head. I was covered in soot and smoke and water. Billy was too. One minute he was lying on the stretcher with me kneeling in the floor next to him trying to get a blood pressure reading. Then next he was screaming and trying to get up and get out. I guess the last thing he remembered was falling into a room filled with smoke and flame.

Coming back to consciousness after going down with smoke inhalation is a terrifying and extremely painful experience. Your hands and feet feel like they are on fire. If the last thing you remember is being surrounded by fire and the first thing you feel when you come to is like you are on fire you would probably panic, too.

Billy was wild eyed and seemed to have the strength of ten men and every intention of getting up and running away. I managed to fall across him before he got off the stretcher. I was clinging to the bars of the gurney for dear life as he writhed and struggle to throw me off and get away. I kept yelling “Billy! It’s me! You’re OKAY! I’ve got you!” To no avail.

Finally, just as I was panicking myself, I screamed “BILLY! MAN DOWN!”

He froze, said “Oh, God, no! Hat! What can I do?” That was just the opening I needed. I told him what he had to do to help the man was to lie still and hold this oxygen mask for me. He did it. All the way to the hospital and with tears on his cheeks, but he did it.

Billy played a big part in saving our downed man that night.

We are all, at times, a little like Billy was that night. We get overcome by our situations and we panic. If we knew someone else who was going through it we would do whatever was needed to help them out. When it is us going through it though, well, I guess we just feel the heat and the danger too much to think clearly. That is when it pays to have a friend who can calm you down and make you think and make you act in your own best interest.

I hope you have a friend or two that will do that for you.

I think that you are that kind of friend.

I am glad you are here.

Old Hat

Questions

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:30:15 GMT

Questions

How do you know if someone loves you?

How can you tell?

Who loves you?

How do you decide who you will love?

How do you show those people that you love them?

Who do you love?

What is love to you?

How do you know if someone is mad at you?

What if someone who loves you is mad at you?

How do you act if you are mad at someone?

What if you are mad at someone you love?

How do you handle that?

Do you know how to forgive others?

Do you know how to accept the forgiveness of others?

What is the hardest part of being you?

How do you deal with that hard part?

What could someone do to help you handle this?

Who would you like to have helping you?

Who do you think is supposed to be helping you?

Will you let anyone help you?

What is your favorite thing about being you?

What would like to change about you?

How do you think you should go about that change?

How would you like others to treat you, act towards you?

How can you change the ways other people treat you?

What would you like to see happen now?

Do you think that is possible?

What if what you want is impossible?

Now what? What is the next step?

Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?"
For it is not wise to ask such questions. Ecclesiastes 7:10

Old Hat

Self Inflicted Survey

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:40:30 GMT

Self Inflicted Survey

What is the most exciting thing you did this weekend?

I attended the Star Wars Symphony at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The stadium is huge. The show was awesome.

What is the oddest chore you have done this week?

I cleaned my brown felt hat. =) It is a beautiful hat.

What is the most ridiculous thing you attempted this week?

Mrs. Hat’s car died with the front wheels on the south side of a speed bump and the rear wheels on the north side of the same speed bump. I opened the door and bailed out and attempted to push the 6,000 vehicle over the speed bump. Ridiculous. I jumped right back in and prayed hard and tried it again. Got it started again.

What is on your project list?

Lots and lots of painting here at the house. Feed bar-b-que to 300 people in December. Clean my desk.

What are you reading for fun?

Number 15 in the Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent.

What are you reading to improve your mind?

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. I don’t know if it is improving my mind, but it certainly is not pleasurable.

What is nearby and making you smile?

My new hat that the lovely Brooke brought me from Ecuador. =)

What are you doing right now to soothe your soul?

Drinking freshly brewed Ethiopian Harrar Coffee.

What should you be doing instead of this?

Cleaning off my desk.

What kind of sunglasses do you wear?

Cheap ones. I keep a pair in Mrs. Hat’s vehicle that I bought when she and I were in Vail Colorado alone on vacation. $8.99 at a convenience store on the way somewhere near the A&W stand between Denver and Vail. I also keep a pair in my truck that I bought in San Francisco. I was there on business. The war in Iraq was in the early stages. My niece had just deployed there with the 101st. I don’t remember exactly what they cost, but they were cheap.

What is your current favorite song?

The Calling by Carols Santana. Wow! I cannot help but sway and snap and sing loudly. People. People. People. Here me calling!” “One love. Lord God Almighty! One Love!”

How is your iPod (or other music player) organized?

Mostly by playlists. The titles of my playlists are Anger Management, Country Favorites, Cowboy Songs, Dancing Music, My Top Rated (which has 242 songs in it), Old Favorites, Psychedelic Groove.

What have you not had time for lately that you miss?

Sending post cards. I have had zero time for this and I miss it. I like the challenge of condensing my thoughts of you and for you down into a very small space in such a way that it can still have a big impact. Soon.

What is the strangest thing on your desk?

That is a real challenge. Two things – because I cannot settle on one.. You know the stretchy stuff they wrap around your arm after you give blood? They use it when they hook you up for a chemo infusion. I have one of those rolled back up on my desk. I saved it from my Mom’s first chemo treatment. I can’t explain that one to you. It just is. The second is probably related somehow. For years I taught a big Sunday school class where we had little 3x5 cards for folks to write down their prayer requests on. We would put them in an email and send them to everybody so they could lift each other up. I still have all of those little cards all these years later. I have them on my desk because I have been slowly mailing them back to the people I still have an address for. Just a reminder. I could never throw them out. Prayers are precious.

What would you be blogging about right now if you had the time and/or brain power?

Bullies, bullying and dealing with a bully. Along with suitable stories from my own experiences with bullies. I hate bullies.

What do you have in your pocket that is not usually there?

A warning from a kind state trooper. A reminder of a math lesson. 60 miles per hour is less than 70 mph.

That will do for now. You can participate and know that you are not answering questions posed by a bored teenager. Feel free to play along.

Old Hat