Tuesday, March 23, 2010, posted by Q6 at 12:28 PM
Although I have much to blog about, I've not made the time to do so. And while I'm on the topic of making time to do things, I want to apologize to my loving wife. Yesterday I was having a bad day, and instead of making the time to let it go and enjoy the late afternoon and evening, I chose to brood, let others share information with me that I didn't need, and spent time for others but very little for myself.

As a result, I'm fully convinced that I allowed my mood to infect those of others, and that was a bad thing. I will endeavor to avoid that kind of thing in the future.
 
Wednesday, March 03, 2010, posted by Q6 at 5:16 AM
I have been a monthly-fee-paying member of AOL for quite some time now: fourteen years, to be exact. Back in February of 1996, ISPs were few, wi-fi (let alone free wi-fi) was nonexistent, and e-mail accounts had to be paid for. (Cellular phones were the size of briefcases at this time, but that's another story for another time.)

I no longer pay for AOL.

Moving everything over to my new Gmail account was easier than I thought it would be, as was informing everyone of my new address. I had these nightmares about losing fourteen years worth of valuable information* and contact lists created over time . . . as it turns out, I had nothing to fear.

I'm reminded of the first in-car CD player I owned: it was one of the first generation players, and it skipped every time I drove over the slightest bump in the road. A friend of mine told me he would wait a few years for the technology to improve, then get one after all the bugs had been worked out. Free e-mail accounts were like that to me: I wasn't going to jump in on the ground floor, but wait until all the bugs had been worked out and the complaints died down (it didn't hurt that I also waited for Google to get into the game).

As I look through my monthly budget, I see items that are necessary expenses and some payments that reflect temporary situations (I should have my credit card problem in the endzone in 12-18 months), but only one has stood out as "unnecessary." Now that AOL is out of my life and off my computer**, life doesn't seem that much different.

Except, of course, that I'm saving an extra $25.00 per month.


* Valuable information, insomuch as it's information I thought was important to file away; but it's not so important that I felt the need to ignore it after it was filed away.

** There have been horror stories floating around about it being impossible to exorcise AOL from your life; I had to fill out one online form, and then wait until the end of the billing cycle, and it was done. No headache, no problem.
 
Monday, March 01, 2010, posted by Q6 at 2:45 PM
I love to blog. I love to write. I love to develop ideas and present them artistically. I just never get around to it.

I am making an effort to change this. There will be posts about time management (or a lack of it), about father-son bonding, and about writing skills. There will be questions about changing professions and about parenting, and there will be answers about marriage and family.

My children will hit milestones in the coming weeks, and I will reflect on the father I've been, the husband I am, and the person that I want to be.

My blog is coming out of hibernation a little late, but welcoming of 2010.