Category Archives: The Basics

The Perseid meteor shower is going on right now and it peaks tonight.  I am determined to get a photo of it.

There are two digital cameras in this house.  One is a trusty Canon PowerShot SD400 and the other is an Olympus Camedia E-20n.  The Olympus is an SLR and can be set to automatically shoot one photo per minute.  With the aperture wide open and a series of 45 to 60 second exposures, there should be some recording of celestial activity especially given the fact that it’s a new moon, I’m in the middle of nowhere with incredible visibility and this is a big shower.

Carl and I sat out for a while last night and saw some activity.  I had the camera set up all night shooting photos but alas, there were just a few hundred shots of the starry night sky.  I think I need to set the exposure for a longer duration.

Yesterday Carl and I splashed around in the pool all day.  It was perfectly hot and sunny.  Today we’re going to hang out in Old Bisbee while Ray does some work on Montefalco.  (I’m looking forward to going out there so I can get some shots of the house for my site.) 

When Carl first arrived on Friday, we went out to dinner at a Lebanese place with Homer in Tucson.  I ordered a shish-ka-bob sampler plate which was a mistake because it was huge and comprised mostly of meat.  I hardly ever eat meat–especially steak.  It felt like I ate a bowling ball!

Age, the final frontier.  Life has been good to me and my bio-vehicle.  Things seem to be holding up well.  That wont last though.  In time the flab factor will become more than my vanity can handle.  It seems that jogging is the thing to take on in the fight against Mr. Belly Pooch. 

I hate jogging.

I hate looking disproportionate even more so jogging seems to win as the lesser of the two evils.  There is one great inspirational factor in all this and that’s Ray.  He’s looking better than ever because he’s been making the effort to exercise.  It’s much easier when someone is there to encourage you.  I’m hoping that this time, because there have been many times, there are going to be some visible results that will encourage a certain level of stick-to-it-ivness. 

I have just been informed that “it is time”.  A slug of coffee, a pair of running shoes and I’m off…

One of the best things about living here is the 360 degree views.  You can see what they mean about “isolated” thunderstorms.  This one reared its ugly head just as the sun was setting yesterday evening.  The cool thing is that it’s in Mexico!  To see such an even happening in another country from your own backyard is nothing short of spectacular. 

Since we have been having heavy rains and cooler temperatures due to the monsoons, it’s great to see a storm happening somewhere else.  It was so nice to come home from work yesterday and have it hot and sunny.  We even splashed around in the pool for a while.  If you’re a summer person, it’s annoying to have it cloudy, rainy and 76 degrees in August. 

It’s supposed to stay like this all weekend which is great because my friend Carl is coming to visit from Boston.  Carl is a great guy and a perfect house guest.  He also has a thick Bostonian accent and likes to sing karaoke with me. (You can only imagine what that’s like!)  I’m sure we’re in for a good time.

I was in such a big hurry to redo my site and start blogging that, content-wise, I sort of threw everything up at once (or I just threw up).  Tonight I sat back and read what I had written.  I was disappointed.  I am extremely hyper-critical of myself and hyper-analytical about my own thoughts which makes me very self centered which is exactly why I should be a writer or an artist in the first place.  This looping overactive mindset that I have creates a perpetual writer’s block.  I have, what I feel, are all these creative ideas and thoughts but when I execute them either musically or in written text, they come out like bad teenage poetry. 

This block has grown older with me.  It matures as I do.  It’s as if it’s as big as me.  My first thought after reviewing my blog was to give up but goddamn it, I’m 41 fucking years old.  I’m so tired of my own self imposed limitations.  I don’t care if nobody reads my blog.  This is all an exercise for me.  I want to become a better writer so..I’m writing.  I’m kind of trying to work on the music thing again as well. 

Talk Talk (an 80’s band) had a song called, “Life’s What You Make It”.  Ain’t that the truth.  I’m only 41 years old.  I could still have another 40 great years.  I have decided that I’m going to age like computer programs do.  I’m not 41.  I’m 40.1 which entitles me to be 40 up to version 40.9.

Perhaps I shall be reading this years down the road and appreciate it as if I were looking at a picture of me taking my first steps.

This weekend Ted came to visit from Sedona.  We all had such a great time except for the fact that it was cool and rainy all weekend.  Ted is a great guy.  He’s a dentist and has great teeth. 

It was too bad about the weather.  We went on a little driving tour of Bisbee but it was raining so hard we had to stay in the car.  I am bummed about all the rain but we need it out here in the desert.  I’m the type of person that needs a certain amount of sunshine every week and this weather is cramping my style.  Oh well, it’s supposed to be nice this weekend and my friend Carl is coming from Boston.

Ted left his shoes here.  I wonder if they’d fit me?

Today is the first day for our new IT director at work.  He’ll be in orientation all day so I don’t expect to see him.  Tomorrow, on the other hand, is going to be different.  I hope this all works out.  We really need some direction.  I better hit the shower and scoot off to work.

Last month Ray and I went to my family reunion in Littlestown, PA just outside of Gettysburg, the Cobban family reunion. 

My aunt (In my family, it’s aunt like haunt.) had turned 90, and since, according to CNN, 60 is the new 40, my aunt Janet is now 70. 

My aunt Janet rocks.  That’s the only way I know how to describe her.  She’s a great example of wisdom and spirit.  My new role model.  I am one of the few lucky people who can say that I truly adore my family. 

Well, it just so happens there was a 5K going on in Gettysburg on the same weekend, so I ran it.  Or shall I say I ran/walked it.  I made sure to be running every time I saw someone with a camera.  That’s for sure. 

It was neat!  We ran through the battlefield.  It was a beautiful day.  I felt great for doing it and had the best time at my reunion.

So…last night I was kind of stressed out.  I’m going through one of those wonderful periods in my life when everything crazy is happening all at once and it had me sort of nutted up.  I was sitting outside nursing a vodka rocks and kind of wigging out when Ray suggested I take a Valium.  We keep a supply around the house mostly for travel.  It makes it really easy to sleep on a plane during a red-eye to the east coast or sleep in a strange hotel room.

I went and broke one in half.  I came back outside, popped it in my mouth and chugged it down with my vodka.

“Ugh, this is so Valley of the Dolls”, I said.  It made Ray laugh really hard.  I then realized that life is kind of crazy and the best thing to do is roll with the punches.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  A lot.  I have a good job, a nice home and a great guy to share it all with. 

It’s all good!