Trader Joe's Bohemian Lager

This beer really wasn’t anything to write home about. Poured well, but it was lighter than I expected. Being called Bohemian I should have known it would be a pilsner. One of the best beers I ever had was a white beer I had when I was in Munich. Of course I didn’t know up from down when it came to beer so who knows if it was good. I imagine it was though since a German made us have it. Alas TJ’s Bohemian was not that good.

My New Theory on Aging

While at a nursing home in Cincinnati, Ohio I developed a new theory. As we age the work we have done on our spirit becomes more visible. If we have spent this life focused on what is eternal in us we will grow in peace, love and joy. If we have not nurtured our souls we will grow in anger, hatred, and bitterness.

In both nursing homes I have frequented I have seen a great deal of anger in the residents. There are of course multiple reasons besides my theory that could explain this; loss of control over your own life, feeling deserted and alone, physical factors such Alzheimer’s, a life filled with never met expectation.

As with everything in life the truth here is most likely a warm fuzzy shade of grey. I think the spirit is a large factor though and should be considered as we travel through life. A well formed spirit would definitely help us in tough times and as we draw closer to the end of our lives. Have you exercised your soul today?

How Instead of Why

My counselor always said that when looking at yourself it is better to ask how than why. Why is an unanswerable question. It also has no meaning. Who cares why you behave a certain way. What do you do that keeps leading you down the same path year after year?

When thinking about the subjects covered in my last blog “Begin Again” the question is not why I fail to meet my goals. The question is how I keep missing my goals. Or even better how do I reach my goals. How will lead you to solutions and positive change. Why will just lead you to self abuse and depression.

Why should be left to philosophizing about the nature of existence over a cold beer with good friends.

Begin Again

Life is a series of restarts. The most famous is of course the New Year. Each year we make resolutions to change this or that about ourselves. Set deadlines and goals for the year. I want to lose ten pounds by my birthday. I want to read a book a month. I want to whatever. This lasts maybe a month or two, three at most. Then we look up and we’ve gained a pound, and read one book. So we begin again. I don’t understand why we do this, but it is definitely part of human nature.

We expect continuous effort from ourselves, but we are not programmed that way. Life is cyclical. The sun rises and sets. Seasons pass in the same order each year. We are not separate from this. We would be better off if we accepted our nature and worked with it instead of against it. For myself I think that the shorter my restart cycles the better. That is the closest I can get to a continuous effort.

I am using the vacation we just finished as a restart point. I had time in the car to collect my thoughts. The first five months of 2009 unfolded pretty much like it always does for me. I got distracted by the immediate tasks at hand and missed my goal. Then I moved the goal to later in the year. I know how to break this trend, but it will take focus, effort and I have to remember that each morning is a chance to start again.

The Familiar

The not so deep dark secret of why Generica works is that we (or at least most) love the familiar. Even I who embraces the different and eclectic find the familiar very comforting. I walked into a Starbucks on the corner of Sawmill and Powell in Columbus, OH last week on our vacation and instantly felt at home. I was completely at ease. I was surrounded by a bunch of Midwesterners ordering their double tall soy lattes with indie music playing in the background. A tall young man with a goatee greeted me with a how ya doin. I responded with a predictable still asleep need my coffee joke and the dance was complete. Does the fact that I find comfort in this environment make me somehow less human or more?

What Did We Learn On the Show Tonight Bill?

We learned that I –like most people- think I can do more in a given time than is actually possible. This was not a complete shock since the whole point of my blog on Wednesday was that I try to do too much. While I wrote the list I was never planning to do all that. I was going to try to stay focused on the garage and my IDP documentation. I was somewhat shocked on how little I did get accomplished though.

I made a good initial stab at the garage. I built two work benches. One bench is so Kay won’t have to bend over to feed the dogs, and the other is to work on bikes. This involved a substantial amount of cleaning/moving around just to get to the area I wanted to build the benches at. However, there is not any significant change in the amount of crap in the garage. It looks like I didn’t do much of anything in three days. I’ll give myself a C+ though.

I finished both 1998 and 1999 on my IDP. I was hoping to get through both CMA and O’Connell Robertson in the three days, but that would be the start of 2003. Not quite there.

If I’m honest with myself I have to admit I never thought I could finish both the IDP documentation and the garage clean up in three days. I was hoping to get a little farther, but the main point of my mini-vacation was to get started on both. So while I didn’t do all I had hoped for I’m off to a good start.


I graded myself just for funsies.
Clean the garage (C+)
Document all of my IDP (C-)
Install the second toilet (C) - I picked up a replacement for the one I cracked.
Mow the yard (F) – Not terrible since I was always planning to do this Saturday morning.
Finish Kay’s plant protection screen (F)
Vacuum the house (F)
Clean off the back porch (F)
Clean the kitchen (B+)
Clean up the dog poop (F)
Smoke a cigar each day (F)
Give the dogs a bath (F)
Write blogs(A-)
Go to a coffee shop (F)
Read the Bible (C) – Read the Bible once in three days
Pray (C) – Sat down and prayed once in three days
Bible Study (F)
Clean the big closet out so I can put the file cabinets in the garage in there (F)
Catch up on laundry (A)
Take a bike ride (F)
Run at Walnut Creek (F)