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I was reading in an old journal I kept back in 1989, 20 years ago! It was in that time that I broke my Achilles Tendon. My notes mentioned re injuring it in January. I was fascinated with golf at the time. I had big plans for fitness and riding. I was very involved in religious belief. I mentioned how busy work was. That would have been before Medical Center Pharmacy. Back then we were busy but not like it would be in the 90's working for Harco/RiteAid. A lot of time has passed. Almost a fourth of my lifespan. The words I recognize as my thinking. The processes that went into the thoughts are the same but I am in a very different place now. But some of the thoughts are the same. I still haven't resolved so many of my little mysteries of life.

This image was on Drudgereport today. It would appear that the throngs of people who were there to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama weren't fastidious about their leavings. It is appalling. This makes the trash tossed casually along our highways look like nothing. Leaving it tells me these folks think nothing of leaving messes because there is someone else who is paid to clean it up. But on a happy note, my weight has dropped to 201. I expect to make my goal by the next bike event. Now we are just waiting for warmer days to get out there and increase miles in preparation for the summer bike events. It is only 87 days to the Safari . We can't wait. Mike and Mitzi are coming along with Paul and Cheryl. We will have a great time.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? Charles Schultz Here we are in the second week of the new year and I am starting it with strict calorie restrictions since I gained those 20 lbs back. It has taken a while but I could see myself failing to do anything and waking up some morning back at 260 or more. It is going well. I haven't seen the big losses I did the first time but I am being diligent. The weather has been uncooperative for bike riding this month. Today it got very warm but I had to work. Same yesterday. Next week, when I am off, the temperatures are going down with highs in the 30's and lows as little as 9! That will be a sharp cold day for riding, hiking, or just taking the trash out. I'll be inside most likely. No matter. If I am able to stay on the plan, those pounds will shed. It is a simple process. Burn more than you take in and you lose. I've spent more than a l...

I love Bill Watterson's comic Calvin and Hobbes. What Calvin says in irony, I say in truth. Our very existence is a struggle between forces that would swallow us at any minute. From the tiny virus to the massive stellar collapse, our demise could come in the next moment or perhaps not for years. We aren't going to get out of this world alive. But each day our self winks out as we sleep. This oblivion we endure daily. Through our lives our experience of self becomes a collection of video fragments that we piece together into a continuity much like the eye merges the still photos into a motion picture. Most of our life experience is lost or misplaced. I say misplaced because occasionally an event can stimulate strong recollections. Memory is frail. As we age our faculty dimishes. Our recollections get altered with time becoming fiction. In essence, we begin losing ourselves long before our lives cease. Take a look in the nursing home at the bodies twisted in fetal positions. Unaw...

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness. Robertson Davies

Unfinished business is where my thoughts are turning this New Year. I've looked back at old resolves that haven't been kept. My plan to backpack was replaced with relying on another groups plan. This will be something I'll have to do for myself. Renewing relationships will be the order for the return to Karate classes. If I am to improve my physical self, I'll have to get back into the weight room in addition to the bike riding to get on track and lose those 20 lbs I've gained. I think it would be good to do another section of the Pinhoti to connect from highway 77 up to Adam's Gap. Then another beyond. Perhaps I can find someone interested in coming along. The section from Adams' Gap to 77 isn't that far. Probably only an overnight. Paul wants a credit card bike trip. Mike came up with a great idea for that between parks in Tennessee. My idea is the Natchez Trace.