First Quarter 2007

It's been a wonderful past few months. I can safely say that I'm a non-smoker now that I haven't had a cigarette in over 5 months. I'm feeling healthier with perhaps a slight chance of living longer and perhaps reaching that next scientific threshold wherein medical advancements will lengthen that life I have left to live. I recently received a bike from a friend, so I can ride and exercise. Everyday, I'm trying to ride at least 10-15 minutes until I build the endurance for long rides. Hey, it's a start to multiple healthy changes in my life. I am taking a few supplements as well. Life is good. My daughter, Lakyn Perry, is doing wonderful in college learning biology. She spent an entire week here with me in Seattle last month. My other Nia is going through some adolencent changes and struggles with school, but has a tutor now to assist and keep her on the appropriate track.

Gosh, I now weigh 190 lbs

Wow, yesterday I weighed myself and found my weight at 190 lbs. That's a substantial increase since I last weighed myself perhaps 2 months ago at 174 lbs. I have quit smoking cigarettes in the past 2 months and have started gaining weight. I haven't noticably changed my diet, so it has to be small alterations in my consumption. I'll watch the candy and cokes I drink and monitor my weight over the next 30 days and see what happens. I also will initiate my exercise program this coming week. I will get out and buy me some jogging shoes this week and start using the tread mills here at the office. I plan to start running 3 miles a day and work up to higher mileage as the weeks proceed.

Wisdom

Life evolves and is constantly changing. Life a simple life to live long and to be healthy. Learn to smile everyday and know you have to be more joyful in your daily life. You may read about it in a book, but living successfully is not a skill that anybody can teach you. You have to learn what successful living means to you on our own. Wisdom teaches us to learn to live a simple life, to be humble, and learn to be forgiving. Love yourself the way you are and not to envy others. If you don't like yourself, makes those changes in your life. Know that the greatest gift we have is love. Love is the best remedy against illness and aging. Gluttony, greed, and your inability to overcome your weaknesses are your biggest enemies. Remember the best day of your life is "TODAY." Health is your most valuable possession, care for yourself.

The Passing of Ed Bradley of 60 Minutes Fame

Today one of my favorite television newsmen, Ed Bradley died of Lukemia. He was the one reporter I trusted intuitively when he reported on an event. I was raised in the era of John & Bobbi Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ghandi, with Ed Bradley my television moderator of choice. He was a black man.

Sport Car Dreams

It's a brand new month, and a fresh opportunity to start over again. There is a whole lot of things I'd like to accomplish this month, including initiating a fitness routine and perhaps joining a gym. As well as, take another step closer to a calorie restricted diet - cutting out all sweets and sodas this month, perhaps tapering off on coffee as well. I'm still trying to create my own perfect life, and style. It's funny, I'm 50 and still having define who I am. Life is better - Life is good. I'm trying to blend a frugal lifestyle, environmentally friendly, with a unique way of expressing my personal style. I like to design my own one off items, than to buy them generally. More on that later.

In the past few days, my newest desire and yearnings have been for a sports car. A BMW Z4.
Not just any sport car, but a sport car that could fit my image of being economical, smallish, yet powerful; my own BMW Z4. It's tiny and can squeeze into my life style without being overly flashy. I imagine myself riding alone with the top down to the coast, to Portland, or even down to San Francisco to see my daughter Lakyn. I extend the limits of the normal usages of sports cars, taking it for a drive in the forest, or loading it with fly fishing gear to go out to a stream someplace in the wilderness. It's a beautiful dream. I would love to teach Lakyn and Nia to drive in it. But it is a dream I can imagine more so than you might expect. When I was a young man, I once had owned a Triumph TR6. A smallish car that I loved. Over the years, I definitely got bigger due to concerns over safety, but today, with all the airbags and other protections, I am probably fairly safe with a newer BMW Z4. I've felt the life of living with a small car in the Triumph, and can sense my lifestyle of the Z4. Perhaps in a year or two, I'll be able to afford it. By then, I may have a new desire.

I think I've always liked small things whether it was small cars, or smaller scale furnishings, etc. I was fascinated by the Japanese lifestyle when I visited there while in the Navy in 1988 to 1990.

The Lexus and the Olive Tree

I read the above titled book several years ago and was very impressed with the concept that promotes globizations and international trade and though I have a degree in economics and understand international trade benefits, I have found myself longing to stay community based, consumer local products and American produced goods. The best SUV is the Range Rover, it's gorgeous and masculine, but I think I'd rather drive a Cadillac Escalade - it's American. Italian shoes, nope, Prada, nope! Nike, American but made in Korea...how about Converse instead. Whether it's watches, coats, cars, electronics, whatever, we should be able to find locally produced products. Most of the benefits argued in international economics really haven't been passed on to the consumers. Hey, a pair of Nike's cost about $5 to produce, but sell for $140, and we see this over and over, though the academics argue the savings to society, really we're talking about the profits to huge corporations and their investors, and particularly the managers who draw huge salaries. I have grown to care less about global politics, these large ideology arguments, and care more about what is happening in my household, or community, the neighborhoods, and city where I live and commute. Somewhere, somehow, the interests of multi-nationals have supplanted my community interests.

Where is my Boo

My youngest daughter, my Boo, turns 17 years old in February, and I only recently had to face the truth, my Boo, the daddy's baby, has grown up and now won't fit into my image of "My Boo..." Perhaps, it's her voice, the tone of a young woman who answers my phone call and says, "Hey, I'm in the middle of homework now and can't talk," It was a flash, a minute ago that it happened, when you know your Boo is gone. Daddies Boo, always loved to hear her daddies voice, who loved his calls no matter...well, this week I had to say Farewell to my Boo. Instead, it's Hi, Nia Anne Perry, the duaghter who has grown into a young woman............

Macio at 50

I turned 50 years old recently, and I'm fairly optimistic about my future years, as I anticipate many more to come. I'm healthy, fairly fit, and just a few months ago ended a lifetime of smoking cigarettes. I'm single but searching to find that female association that fullfills my life. I'm also broke, or without any assets, but earn a good living. My financial woes are principally the consequence of an aggressive and overburdened child support assessment years ago, that continues to deplete my resources. One daughter now 18 y.o. and another 16 1/2, and a huge arrears to follow. Yes, I probably hold some contempt for my x, and a whole lot of contempt for a family law system, so biased to effectively destroy and limit another persons life.