Actually, I don’t have too much time. I have a limited window of quiet before everyone else (the little ones are the real concern) gets up. I don’t have a lot of time.
But…I have enough time to look up videos about things like adventure….and travel.
This morning I was thinking about traveling when the money is tight.
And….I found this video.
I don’t know about hitchhiking with a bunch of kids, though.
That would be a horrifying thought for my wife….if she thought I was contemplating traveling the world with the kids like that.
We can barely make it across the Walmart parking lot without going crazy.
There has to be a little hand in mine if we’re going to try and cross a busy parking lot.
I can’t imagine hitchhiking with these little guys.
I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 because the advertisement said that it was great….and that it was free.
Sometimes, I wonder if I’d let someone light me on fire if they said that it was free for a limited time only.
Cheapness drives the day.
Windows 10 was kind of cool.
There was a brand new start screen….and I had to poke around some to even figure out how to turn things off when it was time to go to sleep.
But….my computer kept crashing.
Freezing up.
Starting slow.
I didn’t like it.
It wasn’t more stable or faster….it just looked different.
Windows 10 seemed like something that I was going to have to live with….like I learn to live with all my regretted purchases.
Then, the “computer expert” at the liquidation center told me that you could revert back to your earlier operating system pretty easily….so I googled the instructions….and here they are:
All you do….if you’re in the 30 day window from when you first upgraded….is go to settings on your computer, then go to the section in settings that says “upgrade and repair”…..click on that….and if you are still within the 30 day period, it should walk you through the rest of the simple process.
I’ve never seen an operating system that would do that for you….that gave you any options.
So….kudos to Microsoft for letting me get rid of something that was free.
Of course, I’ve never seen an operating system that was given away like this, either.
Unless it was called “Linux”.
The article in the link above is short and good….and walks you through things more clearly than I did….but it’s really easy to get back to what was familiar.
All the old files should be there for use if you ever want to go back to Windows 10 and give it another try.
I wonder about something that Microsoft wants to “give” everybody for free.
Is it the “mark of the beast”?
Are they giving me a razor so they can sell me a bunch of blades later on?
What’s the motivation for this largesse?
What’s Bill Gates’ game this time?
I’m glad that I could get away from something that I didn’t really take the time to figure out.
I could have figured it out inbetween computer crashes.
If you never “go”…..because you might break down or something might happen that would mess up your plans….you miss out on so much.
How many of these videos end with the vehicle breaking down?
“Some of them”.
“Some of them” would be the answer to that question.
Some of them…..but not all of them.
Most of the time, people like to tell the story of the hardship.
When things are rolling smoothly and nothing breaks or falls apart, you’re too busy having fun to recount the disasters that didn’t happen.
We took a road trip all over the West a while back….in an already old minivan….and didn’t have any major breakdowns.
We took a trip up to Canada this summer in the same minivan that was even older….and, except for an impromptu brake job in Pennsylvania, didn’t have any problems.
I believe that God takes care of little children.
I’m glad that the kids were with us.
God taking care of us “older guys” because we were piggybacking on the kid’s protective grace makes a long trip easier.
If you never jump because of what might happen on the way down, you never get to see anything interesting.
I don’t want to “mess up”….but I don’t want to “miss out”, either.
I want to walk on a glacier…I want to see the northern lights….I want to go out on the ocean in a sailboat…I want to….
I have a list of things that I want my family to see and do.
That will wear you out when that happens at the end of the day….but I guess it makes sense that it would happen at the end of the day….when we were both already worn out.
It was something about not wanting to use the minty fluoride rinse….and then it turned into a contest of wills.
That’s hard.
I just really did not want to use the fluoride rinse….no matter how emphatic Nate was that I needed to use it.
No….I’m kidding.
It was Nate who didn’t want to use it.
You can guess the outcome of the story.
It was me sitting on the lid of the toilet, Nate standing on his stool at the sink….crying and yelling that he wasn’t going to use the stupid mouthwash….me telling him that he was…
We were in there for a while….a really long while….and then he finally relented and used the mouthwash and we found Teddy and went to go to sleep.
I told him that he was acting like a baby and he yelled, “I’M NOT A BABY!!”
I said, “No….I didn’t say that you were a baby….I said that you were acting like a baby.”
“YOU’RE A BABY!!! YOU’RE A BABY!!! YOU’RE A BABY!!”
He was pretty mad at me.
And the outcome of that exchange was that I said our prayers really quickly and did our blessings really perfunctorily ….and said goodnight…and turned my back to him.
No cuddling last night….no talking about what other things were on his mind.
All because of a stupid mouthwash that was supposed to help his teeth not rot out of his head before the grownup teeth grow in.
That pretty much sucks.
That’s a crummy way for both of us to end the evening.
And then, to top everything off, I get up this morning and read that Italian doctors are planning a human head transplant in 2017….and, weirdly enough, expect a 90% chance of success.
I don’t think that it’s just a cosmetic procedure, though.
That would be kind of extreme.
That would be extreme even for one of the members of the Kardashian family to do.
But back to Nate.
I hate those “excited” exchanges….but if you don’t press for some beneficial resolution to the conflict, it just escalates and keeps happening over and over.
I think that’s right, at least.
Maybe Nate’s right?
Maybe I am a BABY?!!
A baby walking around in a big man’s suit?
The adult observation would be phrased something like, “No….sometimes you act immaturely….”
I’ve heard that one before…..but maybe I AM just a baby.
Who knows?
I’m not going to let some newly turned six-year-old affect my sense of self with an angry comment like, “YOU’RE A BABY!!! YOU’RE THE BABY!!! YOU’RE A BABY!!”
I’m not a baby….I’M A MAN.
This human head thing is kind of freaking me out, too.
Who wants to live in a world where they can swap all of our parts out like that?
There’s a bunch of them on YouTube….so if you like this one, you can watch some more.
It looks like he’s been to a lot of rugged places.
We watched a different show last night….one about a retired military man looking for an off-grid cabin in Alaska….one that was far out and affordable….isolated.
His real estate agent kept showing him properties that were affordable….but too close in….and he kept passing on them.
But, when she showed him a property that was way out in the country….with no highway or neighbors around, he hedged on his decision a little.
He was worried a little about getting supplies….or what would happen to him if he got hurt.
In the end, he chose the really isolated place.
It cost him 800 dollars every time he flew in to his remote cabin, so his concerns about the added cost of living out there were probably justified.
It was hard to get supplies.
It was pretty far out in the wilderness….but it was cheap to rent.
I wonder how much his choice was influenced by having limited options (on the show)?
(Oh, man!! Check out the Costco milk in this video!! How far out are you if you can get to a Costco? Where’d that Costco milk come from?)
Sorry….I digress.
Anyway……it was funny to watch the decision making process.
If you’re willing to pony up $500.00 per month, you can rent a place without running water or electricity out in the Alaskan bush….or within earshot of a seasonal highway.
“Off-grid”….”tiny home”….all these new catch phrases.
It’s kind of funny, really.
When they get to be common enough that we all understand what they mean, it’s kind of goofy.
“Goofy” because, like most things, I guess, you can understand the definition of something without having any idea what the reality of the situation really means.
I guess that’s like most things….no, I know that’s just like most things.
Most of the things that I’ve done in my life have been entered into with a complete lack of understanding.
I’ve had some “adventures” because of my ignorance.
When I hear somebody with limited experience say, “I want to be isolated…..and self-sufficient.”….it really makes me hope that things work out for them. That’s a hard thing to work up to……”self sufficiency”, that is.
Good luck with that.
This series with Ben Fogle looks like it would be pretty interesting.
What if where you live is one of the most beautiful places in the world….and you still want to stretch your legs and get over to the other side of the country….and see some of this kind of scenery?
What does that say about the kind of dissatisfied person you are?
We have family in the northern part of Idaho….family right across the border in Washington….land to build a cabin on.
Wouldn’t it be something to try another part of the world on for size?
Jackass.
Why not just bloom where you’re planted?
This internal dialogue kills.
If I’m pulling away instead of trying to move towards something good, though, I’m pretty far off base from where I should be.
No matter where I am….I’m far away from where I need to be.
Dissatisfaction is like a shadow, anyway….it’s going to be with you wherever you try to land in the sun.
I’m actually pretty darn satisfied with where we are.
I don’t have any complaints….none, actually.
But, wouldn’t it be great to get to see something like this?
Maybe I should just put this next video on and go back to sleep for a while….get over all this wanderlust….just enjoy the gentle sounds of a video of nature and rest for a while?
Maybe I should just finish my coffee and quit whining about stuff so much?
We watched an Ice Cube movie again yesterday….the one where his family is rebuilding the house.
It’s pretty funny….but a couple of times watching it is probably enough.
Towards the beginning of the movie, he’s getting up early to get some work done at his quiet kitchen table.
He has a plan.
But, soon, his stepson wants a poptart…..and his stepdaughter is up and has issues of her own….and then it all hits the fan and he’s covered with food and his new wife tells him that they’re expecting twins.
All he wanted to do was get up early and have some quiet time.
Of course, this prompts him to go out into the country and find a “fixer upper” in a small town outside of the city.
A “bigger house” is surely the thing that will fix the problem.
Then things really hit the fan.
Some parts in these movies resonate a little harder than they should.
I’m sitting here, typing this, and Nate is in the other room watching a cartoon.
How early do you need to get up to find a splinter of peace?
Of course, if I wasn’t up, Nate would be in our bed still….waking up Sparrow and noisily trying to integrate himself into a quiet morning routine….so it’s good that I was ready to pop out of bed….and that he followed shortly after….even though he said that he wanted to sleep with Mommy.
I don’t know if Jenny kicked him out or not….but he’s out with me now.
Which is great, really.
I love Nate.
He’s hilarious…but a powderkeg of emotions.
He’s a beehive that gets noisy if I poke it with a stick.
These kids are wildcards.
So I don’t know how early I need to get up to hit that sweet quiet zone that I’m not used to still.
I downloaded an audiobook version of Thoreau’s “Walden” ( on librivox.org ….a pretty darn cool site….tons of public domain books read by people from all over the world….good classics for good listening to at work….all free )….so in the midst of any craziness that comes along, I should be able to find out what “peace” is really about.
At least hear some of Thoreau’s feelings about the matter.
What the heck is Nate watching? Oh…Inspector Gadget.
What the heck.
The morning is the morning….whether it’s quiet or not.
I’d rather spend a noisy morning with Nate than a peaceful morning with no prospect of a “Nate” being around.
My blessings are easy to count.
But…..how early do I need to get up to pretend that I have a chunk of quiet in my life still?
