Green, Blue, Black. Not necessarily in that order. I’ll take my coffee first, thank you. I’m slowly turning into a morning person…..after I’ve been awake for about an hour and a half. Hahaha. I LOVE staying up late, always have. Lately though, my ability to stay awake past 11:30-ish seems to be a little impaired, so with all of this “extra sleep”, it seems I should wake up and GO, right?  Well sometimes I DO…and sometimes I even wash my hands afterwards. Alright, I couldn’t resist that one (hey, whaddaya expect from a caveman sheesh!). Black coffee GOOD.

It was a pessimist who came up with the term “stoplights”. I mean, theoretically, they’re green just as much as they’re red, right? So why don’t we call ‘em go lights? I could go on for hours on this topic, but my kids would probably say I’m a pessimist too sometimes when I’m behind the wheel. Lol. Stoplights are one of my pet peeves. Now, I’m a good driver. I don’t tailgate, I don’t hit anyone, and I use my turn signals (that’s the textbook definition of a “safe driver”, isn’t it?).  But lately, when I’m trying to get somewhere, those beautiful green lights turn into the most horrific shade of red I’ve ever seen as I get closer to the intersection. Sometimes it’s for no apparent reason; there isn’t another car in sight! Other times it’s because one of those pesky pedestrians has to cross the street, and I swear they’re mocking me as they take their sweet time lollygagging to the other side. Don’t they know I have someplace to BE?!? But today, in my travels, it’s like the heavens opened up for me. I probably broke a world (record for the most green lights ever made by a non-speeding (for the most part) law-abiding (for the most part again) citizen. Utopia, that’s what it was. Green lights GOOD.

Have you ever asked someone what their favorite color is, and they replied “Gray”? I didn’t think so. I love all of the seasons. Love a good winter storm, and the beauty of the fall. Love the new life that spring gives every year, and who doesn’t love summer? (Other than my friends in Arizona, maybe!). But when we flip that magical switch known as Daylight Savings, it just makes me giddy as a schoolboy. By the time Spring arrives, I’m ready for some BLUE! Not to mention, yellow. “Save” daylight? What a concept….it’s a no-brainer! My only complaint about the current system is that instead of “Spring Forward, Fall Back”, it should be “Spring Forward, Fall FARTHER Forward”. Let’s face it…winter can be gloomy enough on its own. Who says we hafta accentuate the gloom by allowing it to be dark at 5:30pm? Helloooo! Someday when I’m in charge of earth stuff I’m gonna make some sweeping changes. Blue skies GOOD.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

-Mike

 

My second blog post in less than a year….no WONDER I’m exhausted! Not sure how long I can keep up this pace, but surely my commitment to quality journalism won’t go unnoticed. Okay…..it may go unnoticed….and I’ll stop calling you Shirley.

A lot has changed since last year. For starters…..it’s a different year now (say what you want, but I have a firm grasp of the obvious). I started my own business. I lost my Dad.  And time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’….into the future.

It’s so hard losing a parent. Dad had been ill for several months, we knew  the prognosis. It wasn’t really a surprise, but we thought we had more time with him. When you lose someone you love, it really jolts you out of your bubble and makes you realize how fragile, how temporary, this life is.

If anything, I’ve learned that my favorite day of the year is…..the day before tomorrow.

I have GREAT plans for “tomorrow”. It’s good to have something to look forward to. It’s good to have a plan, period.  Butchyaknow….inevitably, this “life thing” doesn’t always go according to plan. It can suck, it can hurt, it can make ya wanna curl up into the fetal position sometimes. But we gotta keep moving forward, and the best time for doing that is not tomorrow. It’s the day before.

In the interest of moving forward, maybe I’ll write another blog post before another year passes by. It may not move anyone else forward, but we all have our own race to run.

I’ll see ya on the race track…and I call “dibs” on the inside lane! (Oh alright, you can have it. Sheesh.)

-Mike