Stunned Silence

The weekend whirled away. There's very little left of it yet to enjoy, which is disappointing. I was hoping the weekend would drag on and on and on. I didn't expect it, but I had hoped for it. Alas, no dragging. Instead, the clocks apparently ingested little red pills that accelerated everything. So, Sunday afternoon arrived only a few hours after Friday night ended.

We went to a small party on Friday evening, where we met, among others, a former Olympic athlete from New Zealand, Peter Snell. He was a Gold medal winner in Rome in 1960 and in Tokyo in 1964. He's now Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and also Director of the Human Performance Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He was one of a few New Zealand athletes featured on some New Zealand postage stamps in 2004. There is a statue of him in his hometown in New Zealand. I got only a small fraction of this information from Peter directly; most came from a search of the web. What I did get from him is that he rides his bike to work every day; this 70-year-old guy wants to stay in shape. I bow my head in deep shame and humiliation in recognition of my slothful lifestyle.

There were others at the party, but Peter's story was the most intriguing. Certainly more intriguing than mine.

Yesterday, my wife and I decided to pretend it was the weekend (we have to pretend, even when it is, or she will end up at the office). We took a drive to Fort Worth, where we wandered aimlessly around the western part of town and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant that does not warrant mention here. Then, we drove toward Granbury but turned around before we got there and continued to wander the seedier areas of the city. I'm always drawn to the seedy areas of town; I think I inherited a seedy-side gene.

Speaking of seedy, after our time in Fort Worth, we went to view a double-wide trailer at the local Palm Harbor Homes dealership. I had once stopped in there to look at their inventory, as I was thinking of buying a manufactured home for our land in Falba. I left my name back then and I got a call a few days ago from the dealer, informing me that someone had traded in their 1998 Clayton home and asking, "would you be interested?" They said they were completely re-doing the Clayton and would sell if for $39,000. At any rate, we took a look. If my land were just a few miles up the road, I might have bought it (despite the fact that it is not the cheeriest living quarters I've ever seen). But, no, this one was not for us.

Before we left home for our little jaunt, I did all the prep-work for a crock-pot beef stew. Just before we left the house, I turned the crock-pot on to 'low' and let it cook away. By the time we returned home, the stew was almost done. And when we ate it last night, I had to congratulate myself for dinner.

That little success made me work on tonight's dinner this morning. Not planned as a crock-pot dish, tonight's dinner could be. I sliced some habanjero/green chile sausages into 1/2 inch disks, then added 2 cans of diced tomatoes, some frozen okra, some frozen corn, salt, pepper, chile powder, garlic power, a touch of file powder and put all of the ingredients in a pot that will be cooked on medium high this evening. It better be good.

Tomorrow, I am having a lunch meeting with an attorney I know who retired to San Miguel de Allende several years ago. He's actually semi-retired...does lots of consulting, public speaking, and some litigation. I called him not long ago to ask if he'd be willing to let me market one of his presentations that I think would be of significant interest to employers (it has to do with pending "card check" legislation regarding formation of unions). He was interested and said he'd like to talk next time he was in town...which is now. So, I'll bounce some ideas off of him to see whether it's worth my while to organize a public training program.

So, my fingers are worn and my mind is empty. One day, I'll have creative thoughts to share and readers will be stunned into silence.