It is hard to see clearly because my dashboard is so dirty, but my odometer turned 123456 this evening. This is the first time in my life that I ever had a car reach that milestone. First because my cars never got that many miles without crapping out, and second because it is unusual to catch the number occur. Sadly, this milestone happened on a Japanese made car. The best I ever got from Ford was 112000, and the best from my Oldsmobile was 110000. Both of the previous cars went to the junk yard at those mileages. This one will keep going until it reaches 200,000. I wouldn’t be afraid to get in this Jap car and drive to California tomorrow. I would never have undertaken such a journey in either the Sable or the Intrigue at that mileage.
Today, is also the anniversary of my wife Peggy’s entry to planet earth. I can’t tell you her age but if you look at 18 in the mirror you will know. It was a bit trying for her as all birthdays are as we age and near the last one. We tried to make it as happy as we could. Her daughter came to visit, her youngest grand-daughter called to tell her she is having labor pains, and her baby is on the way on her great grand mother’s birthday. Peggy asked who is pregnant, and I had to remind her it was her grand-daughter. She replied, “I didn’t know.” Sadly, that is not the case. Peggy was one of the first to know, she went with her GD to watch an ultrasound, and then went to her baby shower. Tomorrow, it will be the same thing. Peg won’t remember a thing about her first great grand-daughter coming soon.
This is my 1000th post, and I am proud that I reached it. When I began blogging, I never imagined that I would ever reach 1000. In fact at the beginning of 2013, I saw 1000 as too far in the future. Well, it happened. This post will make me happy only if it is meaningful and memorable. To begin, I decided to copy post number one and republish my thoughts from 1000 posts ago.
Here is Post Number One:
Well the words “income tax,” required that I really get myself motivated to file. Nothing like the drudgery of looking through old receipts and bank statements to get one excited. I scheduled two days for the task. They came and went, Then I scheduled another two days to do taxes. Again they came and went. Finally, I told myself that a great reward awaits me if I start and finish in one day. What was my reward? A walk in the park. That is exactly what I did today. I completed the bloody 1040 and then went for a nice long walk. I didn’t mind the cold or the drizzle. It felt good compared to the drudge of filing.
Motivation is about playing tricks with your mind. Promising yourself little perks as rewards for completion of tasks is one of them. Try it, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.
At the time, Grumpajoesplace was a blog about developing human potential. I dreamed of teaching people to learn how to visualize, how to prioritize, how to carry out goals. For a while, I did just that. I posted hints about how to set a goal, how to break things down into baby steps, and how to work on the right things. I spoke about defining High Payoff Activities. I quickly ran out of things to write about, but kept going anyway. Then, the campaign for the 2008 presidential election began. The campaign rhetoric reminded me of things I had heard before. It wasn’t like I heard the same old, same old stuff that politicians spew, it was a line of communist rhetoric cleverly disguised to intoxicate the masses. That is when this blog “transformed” into something different. I couldn’t just sit by and watch the country drink the Kool-Aid of communist socialist bull crap.
I am old enough to remember when Fidel Castro was a bright energetic freedom fighter who wanted nothing but to overthrow Batista the Cuban dictator. Fidel was charismatic, and a very good speaker. We all admired him and even the US Government became intoxicated on his rhetoric. Fidel managed to overthrow the dictator and run him out-of-town. Then he changed colors and turned Cuba into a communist socialist state overnight. He even stunned our government.
I listened to the speeches of Obama, but I heard the voice of Fidel Castro selling his socialist bullshit.
Now, we have a divided country too dumb to understand that Obama is a Muslim Socialist. They are too dumb to understand that they are selling their personal liberty for a welfare state, and they elected him a second time.
It is funny that my first post was about the IRS, I bad mouthed them in number one, and I’m not sorry I did. They are ruthless, evil union workers who extort “We the People” for every last nickel we owe. Why is it that the Tax Collectors are always considered bad guys in the Bible?
For a long time, I concentrated on the campaign exclusively, but I tired of it. That is when I sat down and brainstormed a new approach, I decided to mix up the blog-content by injecting my personal interests along with the Obama bashing. It became fun again. That is why I include stories about the silly Wabbits who eat my flowers under “Wabbit Wars,” and review books and movies. Since Peggy and I travel some, I post travel exploits and photos under the “Burning Gas” series, and I show off my passion for flower gardening with flower photos, usually under the “Monet Vision” series. I cannot forget the cartoons which allow me to exploit my artistic drive. More recently I have begun to include articles by other bloggers who share similar views and who write some pretty convincing articles. I thank them for allowing me to “reblog” their work.
Thanks to all my followers and readers who have faithfully supported me by reading my stuff. I intend to reach two thousand posts quicker than it did to get to one thousand (64 months).
