TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

“One is Evil -  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good -  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” 

 

This was sent to me by a friend who always seems to know when I need to be reminded that no matter how much I feed the ” Good “, someone else is just as busy feeding the ” Bad “. I hope you spend time feeding the one that uplifts your friends and family, and not the one which only serves to discourage and disappoint.

Back in the Saddle

Well it’s been couple of weeks since my last post and I figured I’d better get “crackin”. I was pushing hard to develop the travel division as the holidays approach. Unfortunately the vendor I was working with ( Widget Bucks) decided to deactivate my account without a real explanation. It’s probably better that they did it now instead of later when they owed me commissions for my efforts. If you are into affiliate marketing do not join this network. They will take advantage of you!!

I had such a great time in Chicago I’m still trying to get caught up on all things that didn’t get done while I was away. That’s the thing about a journey it leaves you changed, different from the way you were before it stated. I’ll have photos posted sometime this week.

Welcome Home

My Mom Dorothy

Well it’s Tuesday at 2:30am and here I am back in Chicago after a 15 year absence. I must admit that I wasn’t that sure about coming home, but since I’ve been back  I’ve had a great time being with my family. Mom has been the perfect hostess. She’s been making me feel very loved, and missed, the time I’ve been here. She comes to visit me every year in Cali so I decided to return the favor. I got in last Friday and we’ve been busy since I stepped off of the plane. We had a great visit to my Grandfathers’ house in Elkhart, IN on Saturday. I was so glad to see him, and my Grandmother, that I wanted to stay there with them for a couple of days but Mom have a very active lifestyle and we decided it would be better to just come back later in the week. We went roller skating on Sunday after church for 3 hours, then hit the Horseshoe casino  in Hammond. She enjoys playing the slots and wanted to share one of favorite spots with me. even though we didn’t win anything it was fun to try. I know one day soon she’s going to hit it big!! Monday we went the movies to see the new film from Disney, A Christmas Carol, and then to ” Mather’s More Than A Cafe ” for lunch. It’s a place she works as a volunteer helping the people in the community. I really enjoyed meeting the people she works with and the delicious food they serve. We ran some errands after that, came home, worked on some things around the house, and called it a day. Tomorrow, or should I say today, is going to be another busy day so I’m going to get some rest now. I’ll post more updates as the week progresses. I’ve still got to post photos of my daughters and their kids.

2012 – Opening 11/13/09

 This movie, from Sony, looks like it’s going to be an action packed thrill ride with lots of visually stimulating scenes. I’m hoping that the plot doesn’t get obscured by too much computer generated imagery. It’s coming out November 13, 2009, and if you’re a fan of sci-fi this is a can’t miss event. Please click on the title of the movie to the left to get a taste of  this feast for the eyes yourself. I’m sure after you’ve seen it you’ll be as anxious as I am for this one to debut.

Technical difficulties resolved pics available!

Yahooo

Ok, it’s about time right? It’s been two weeks since we returned, and only a few pics have been posted, but that’s all about to change. Located in the lower right corner of the page is the ” box “. The box allows me to easily share just about anything with you. Music, movies, all types of documents, and yes pictures! This way while I’m generating content we can still share this adventure with you.  Check out the ” box”.   As the pages are completed the password protection will be removed so be on the look out for the notices.

Making ” Lemonade”

European Sunset

One of the worse things that can happen to a writer is for his/her efforts to be deleted in the blink of an eye. I just worked nonstop for about 5 hours and just hit one stupid key and lost everything. Now the test of my creativity is,  ”Can I reproduce the wonderful dialogue I had written with something of equal merit?”. I was trying to wrap text around images from the trip and ended up selecting all and then hitting the backspace key. What a bonehead move!! This is the picture I was trying to insert. It’s Anna on the balcony of the SunBay Park hotel in Civitavecchia. We had a nice room with a sweeping view of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The hotel, the SunBay Park , sat right on the water and provided adequate accommodations for the one night we would be staying there. The price was right and they offered continental breakfast with the room. Problem was we were so jet lagged from the trip we slept right through it. We woke up around midnight and just flipped through the tv stations, hoping to hear something that sounded familiar. Things wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t have been for the mosquitoes. It was very humid in Civitavecchia and the mosquitoes were out in full force. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy the rustic charm the place had, but I would had done well to pack some bug repellent. In total I must have had about 30 – 40 bites, mostly on my left arm, that eventually would require cortisone and Benadryl for treatment, but that’s another story. We did end up having pizza and Heineken at a bowling alley just down the street from the hotel. I got a chance to try speaking italian again, felt like I could have done better. The waitress knew we were tourists so she was patient and kind. Even though the neighborhood don’t offer much in the way of attractions places like that bowling alley make it unique. It was like living with the local just for the afternoon. As we strolled along the streets and smelled the things that everyone else there knew, and understood, we were locals!! I even had a guy pull his car across a lane of oncoming traffic just to ask, me?, for directions. Every bit of italian that I had learned in the days leading up to the trip was suddenly gone. Well I’m going to try to get back to reconstructing the Civitavecchia page.

A Decision Made!!

Yesterday was a day of new awareness. When faced with having to move on with my life and find a way to generate a living through my own creative efforts, or subject myself to a position just above subservience I choose to pursue the former. I will nurture my entrepreneurial spirit and develop my publishing/market activities into a profitable endeavor because the time is now for me to take care of me. No one is going to give me anything no matter how hard I work. I’ve come to realize that even though the chips appear to be stacked against me I will come through this time of testing a stronger, more self sufficient man.

Grand Mediterranean Cruise aboard the “Carnival Dream”

"Ship of Dreams" docked in Croatia

We arrived in Italy on the first Friday in October to begin our voyage around the unpredictable seas of the Mediterranean. We would also sail the Ionian, Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, Ligurian, and Balearic seas on this adventure, all different in how they treated untested seafarers. I was a novice to sailing and didn’t know what to expect when we stepped off of the Alitalia jet at Fiumicino airport. We knew that this was nothing like the country we had just left behind fourten hours earlier. As we rushed for the totally neglected bathrooms we quickly realized that all we knew, and accepted, as an excepted standard of cleanliness was about to be compromised. Here we were finally in the place we had read about as children ready to explore and learn new and wonderful things. It was a strange feeling of being in a familiar place, but knowing you didn’t speak the language so you were vulnerable. We had to let our guard down and trust that the people in this country would be freindly and helpful. They didn’t let us down. As we emerged from the luggage pickup area our first goal was to secure transportation to our hotel the SunBay Park in Civitavecchia.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is my first post.

 I’ve always wanted a WordPress Blog and now I have one. They look so “blog-like”. You know what I mean? It’s got this great look that makes anything you type look interesting, even if it’s not. I’m feeling  just a little nervous about leaving for Europe at this time because there is so much about to change in my life. I haven’t been speaking freely about it because it’s actually painful. When I think about the people I called friends turning their backs on me during my time out of the office I’m saddened, angered, confused, and disgusted.

I know this is some heavy stuff to post for the first time I’m using WordPress, but I think this is the time for open dialogue. I’m not going to go on and on about the crap right now, but you’d better believe that as time goes on, and I am more and more removed from the source of my discontent, I’ll be writing about all of it in great detail.