Thankfulness

Thought I would join the norm and make a list of the things I am thankful for, but with my twist. I generally try to remember these things most of the time, but like many I forget.

I am thankful for:

My wife--This may seem like a pat choice, but to me it is not. Think of how many marriages you know where the spouses don't do things together. He is off golfing/biking/riding that cruiser bike/etc. and she is doing coffee/shopping/quilting/etc.--not that there is anything wrong with any of those. It takes effort to make a couple work. I am thankful my wife puts up with this SOH. I am thankful she like to cook and try new things gastronomically. I am just thankful God put this woman in my life.

My children--All of them. Isn't it wonderful to see the differences in our children? I am blessed that they give me so much to think about and so many things to do to keep up with them.

The rest of my extended family--Sometimes a TV drama seems tame, but they are still related by blood or other things and they are mine.

A job that I enjoy more than I dislike--If it weren't for the students, the job would be hard to take. Stop and think what people in retail dislike about their job, adults. Why can't we adults act with more sincerity like children.

Friends--Friends are the exception to the above comment about adults. In fact, I'm surprised that my friends don't say about me what I say about adults. That's why they are friends.

Bicycles--Specifically the bikes I get to ride, and ALL the bikes in the world.

Baseball--Really it's more than just a game; we all know it. Challenges, cause and effect, and more thinking than people give it credit.

God--In no way could I have such hubris to think that this world exists for and is controlled by such an imperfect being as homo sapiens.

What if. . .

What if the theory of Peak Oil is correct? What if cars and personal transportation will change? There are many negative sides of these questions, but I've been thinking about one of the positives for our little town.

Our little hamlet celebrated the New Millennium prematurely in 2000 and then again in 2001, then again in 2002, then again in 2003. They have continued, but have begun calling it a New Year's Celebration. It was and is a wonderful production with fireworks, a Doodah parade and plenty of small-town revelry.

Something hit me as I was standing in the center of the main intersection of town, talking to my brother near a fire pit. What if the downtown was closed to cars all of the time instead of just tonight? I have since thought about his many times. I walk or cycle downtown when I need to go there. I've thought about how and where to close the roads. I'm sure there would be opposition and I'm sure there are downsides. But what would some of the positives be?

Our town has many murals and promotes self-guided mural walking tours. Why not add to the walking aspects? Friday nights a few local restaurants have music. Why not make it easier and more pleasant to walk amongst them? On a few occasions during the year one of the streets is closed for Chamber of Commerce functions, weddings, etc. This would make the entire downtown available for such functions. People would be encouraged to linger and walk about more. We have a new cafe/winebar with seating on the sidewalk, except there isn't much room for tables outside. If people walked on the street, the former sidewalk could be opened up for more tables. We had a chance to go to the Gaslamp District in San Diego recently. What a nice place to walk around. And it hasn't always been like that. Could our hamlet's downtown look similar?

Certainly traffic flow would be effected. Round-abouts and diverting traffic through alleys would allow cars to move through and near the downtown area, freeing the central core for pedestrians. It's just a dream, but what if. . . ?

Greed has a New Standard. . .

. . .Lower.

I apologize for not posting for a bit. And I doubly apologize for the nature of this post after posting on the same subject previously.

The thirdbaseman that shall remain unnamed, after having slunk back to the Evil Empire, has come to some agreement to resign with the EE. I thought the EE had come to its senses and washed their hands of 3B, but I guess greed comes in many flavors and wins are more important than being embarrased.

The money will probably be considered reasonable over time, though said 3B and his agent seem to be about as out of touch with the world as the Saudi royal family with their countrymen.

The killer though is the "provision" to allow 3B to share the revenue from his pursuit of the all-time home run record. Am I the only one that finds this so ethically bankrupt as to be beyond belief? So we now will have a greedy player chasing the record of a cheater/liar and recieving part of the money generated.

What is wrong with just playing the game?