Random Bytes of Reality

Tonight closes the final chapter in a long year for us here in this house. It’s been marked by yet another back surgery that resulted in hardware being attached (or fused) to my spine, more health issues for the both of us (getting old just plain sucks sometimes), work getting insane due to not enough folks to do what’s needed to be done (the old ‘do more with less’ campaign), and many more less remarkable things that all add up to me being glad that 2011 is coming to a close.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some good things to come out of 2011. But this post is about ending a chapter that didn’t sit all that well with me so let’s talk change. Change for the good. Change for the better.

Beginning in 2012, I will no longer spend holidays away from my family. I will make it a priority that work will no longer dictate my life. I will not be it’s slave. Sounds dark but if you know me well enough then you know how my work schedule has been over the past 6 years. No more. I have no problem working to earn my living. Just not every day/night/weekend and/or holiday! I’m tired.

I’ll be looking for a new job this coming year in a field that I hope will provide us with a brighter future than what I’ve been facing recently. I’m cracking the books again, going to study and fill my brain with the knowledge needed to become the best I can be at my newly chosen vocation. I will become certified in that field.

I’d like to spend the remaining years of my life with family and friends, enjoying them to the fullest. I want to plant a garden similar to the one I had at our old place so we can enjoy fresh home-grown vegetables again. I plan to focus more on getting Birmingham’s RSS off the ground and adding yet more RSS feeds and stories to it. I plan to spend a lot more time with my family.

I plan on taking my life back and making a better difference to those around me in 2012. I plan on making a change. For the better.

What are you planning for 2012?

Happy New Year Everybody! Bring on 2012!

Yeah, I know it’s not very technical or web design-ish nor even anything to do with Linux. But I just had to write this because it hits so close to home with me. My friends are my life just as my family is my life. When they hurt, I hurt. When they feel good with the world, so do I. In this case, we’re hurting pretty bad. Before you click away because this has nothing to do with my normal ramblings, do yourself a favor and keep reading. This affects you just as well as others in this nation.

I have a friend, who will remain nameless as he has enough to cope with now without anyone remotely recognizing his name here and calling him up to inquire what’s going on, has lost his business, his home, gone through bankruptcy, lost pretty much all of his earthly belongings and most importantly, may have lost his soul mate who has been with him for around 30 years. He’s been forced to move in with one of his kids and is doing what he can to try to bring income into the family once again.

This is a proud man who served in the Navy for this country and who had built up a business that employed not only he and his wife but several other family members. His company had been doing really well up until this economy tanked. This very same man spent many a tiring shift in a steel mill working an overhead crane and not one of those with the remote control. His shift was spent in a cab atop the crane in sweltering heat. This was one of his first jobs after marrying. The business that he and his wife started came soon after. Read more »

I remember when I saw my first Mustang Fastback 2+2 back when I was a young lad. I dreamed of owning that car one day. But no more.

I remember when I entered 7th grade and thinking what an impression my life would make in this world when I grew up. But no more.

I remember when I entertained the idea of going to the senior prom with THAT girl I had fell for. But no more.

I remember marrying my wife and starting our life together thinking we were going to take this world by storm and change it for the better. But no more.

I remember my daughter coming into this world we created and thinking, maybe she could do something with it in her lifetime. Just maybe. But no more.

I remember thinking all these years that there just had to be a politician who gave a damn for the people who elected him/her instead of themselves. But no more.

I remember thinking all of these things and feeling foolish to believe that time changes all things. That people do indeed change. That they eventually see the light and begin to believe that the path to true freedom is not in power, greed and corruption but in the hearts and minds of the people themselves. But no more.

I remember thinking that working for a well-known company that had been around for a 100 years would be the career of a lifetime. One to retire from one day. But no more.

I remember having a dream that one day, possibly when my grandkids are grown responsable adults, that this great country of ours will wake up and smell the coffee.

But no more.